Risks
by xBlossom
Summary: Look but don't touch. That's the rule of Division. Birkhoff/OC mainly. Mikita & Nalex later on. :
1. A Second Chance

**Hello everyone! I'm in love with Birkhoff and there's like only 4 stories with him as a main character. *tear tear***

**So, here is my story and I hope you enjoy it. (and maybe this will inspire others to also write Birkhoff stories. :D)**

**It is set before Thom's death and before Alex becomes an agent.**

**I hope you like my OC, Paulina. She's Birkhoff's love interest. ;D**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nikita.**

**Please review if you want to see the rest of the story. I already have the first four chapters written but I'll post them if you guys like it.  
**

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Chapter 1: A Second Chance

I was running. I was running as fast I could, trying to outrun the police and their dogs. I'd told Simon that it was a bad idea to stash the drugs in the empty building across the police station. He was so stupid. And so was I for listening. He said this would be the last place they'll look since it was right under their noses. I guess it would've worked if their dogs hadn't sniffed it out almost immediately. So now I had to run for my life, with only a gun for protection.

They were catching up fast. This is it, I thought as I slowed down. I was tired and was slowing down. It was only a matter of minutes before the police found me. Though I was deep in the forest by now, they had dogs that could sniff me out easily. I started to cry.

Why did I get into this mess?

I held onto my gun, letting it give me a false sense of security. I turned my head back to see if they were close and through my tears, I saw a dog. My heart sank. Right behind it was an officer. I quickly stopped and turned around and aimed my gun at the officer's head. I knew I wouldn't be able to pull the trigger but they didn't need to know that.

"Drop the weapon!" The officer in the front was the one who spoke.

"So you could arrest me? I don't think so!" I managed to say with a confident voice. I was glad they couldn't tell how nervous I was really feeling.

"You have until the count of three to drop the gun, or I'll shoot you," he yelled back.

"I'll—"

"—One!" he interrupted. He looked at me straight in the face before continuing, "Two!" I started panicking again. My hand was visibly shaking. I will not drop my gun, I thought, no matter what.

"Three!" a shot rang out. Pain shot through my right hand and as I screamed, the finger on the trigger constricted. A second shot rang out. I saw the officer fall, dead, with a hole in his forehead. I screamed even louder at the sight of what I'd done.

"Oh my God!" I was a drug dealer, not a killer, but no one would believe me, not with that perfect shot that was sitting in the middle of the officer's forehead.

A third shot rang out. I felt something hit my stomach. I crumpled to the floor as this new pain overpowered my thoughts. I passed out.

I woke up to the sight of a white ceiling. I blinked several times, confused, before the events of the previous night came back. I quickly sat up and pain shot through my stomach. I yelled. I clutched my stomach and a similar pain went through my right hand.

"Be careful now, don't hurt yourself," said a voice from the opposite side of the room. My head snapped towards the voice. An unfamiliar man was standing by the door. I ignored him and took a good look at where I was.

The room looked sterile and boring. The walls were bare; no medical posters, no tally marks to count days spent here, no windows, absolutely nothing to help me find out where I was. It didn't look like a jail cell or hospital.

"Where the hell am I?"

"You are in Division, a secret unit of the government. And according to these," the man said, handing her a folder, "Paulina West died of a gunshot to the stomach." I looked at him in confusion. "Paulina, you've been given a second chance, a chance to serve your country ."

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**NOTE: I also don't know how long it takes for a gunshot to the stomach to heal or if it's possible to survive a shot to the stomach but Paulina does. :x**

**And again, please review if you want to see the rest of the story. I already have the first four chapters written but I'll post them if you guys like it.**

**THANKS FOR READING! :)  
**


	2. The Recruit

**Thank you to Sara01, Baby01 for reviewing! Okay this used to be Chapters 2 and 3 but I decided to combine them. :D**

**Paulina and Birkhoff meet here. ;D Yaaaaay. Anywhooo, please read, alert, favorite and/or review! :D (I prefer all, haha)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Nikita.  
**

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Chapter 2: The Recruit

"Is this some kind of joke?"

"Not at all," said the man, calmly. "We recruited you because you are young, beautiful, strong… a good shooter."

"A good shooter?" I said angrily. "I killed somebody!"

The man simply smiled calmly. His calm personality was frustrating. "That will come in handy here. We need people like you to help run this place. We train people how to fight, how to spy, how to survive. You will learn many languages, such as French, Spanish, Russian, and Czech, to name a few. You will learn how to use computers. You'll learn how to use a gun, how to make a bomb… You'll learn how to gain's someone's trust."

"Okay, whatever. But who are you?"

"Michael." Michael was tall and serious-looking. He reminded me of Simon, the man I got the drugs from.

"Well, I guess I'll serve the country or whatever, but won't the police arrest me when they see me?"

"The police won't touch you. I promise," he smirked. "Now, try to rest. The wounds in your stomach and hand will be fine in a week. Then you can start your training."

"What am I supposed to do meanwhile?" I asked.

"Normally, we have recruits go see Amanda immediately, but in your state, you'll have to wait until you're healed."

"Who's Amanda?"

"She is very important here in Division. She will tell you herself what she's here for."

"Great, thanks," I said sarcastically.

"Good bye, Paulina," he said as he stepped out of the room.

"Bye," I muttered.

Secret unit of the government? This was way too much to take in. But to look at the bright side, I wouldn't be going to jail, or worse, executed. I took in a deep, shaky breath. The face of the officer I'd killed was stuck in my head. Maybe if I helped the government while I was here I would be able to redeem myself for all the things I did.

I closed my eyes and tried to not focus on the throbbing pain in my stomach. To be honest, the shot wound on my hand didn't even hurt when I compared it to the one in my stomach. I just hoped the week would go by quickly so I could start my training and see this Amanda lady.

Suddenly, my door opened again. "Michael, is that you? Your cryptic answers didn't help," I called out annoyed.

"He tends to do that," replied another unfamiliar voice. A thin lady wearing a red body-hugging dress and heels stepped into the room. Her heels made a clicking sound with each step she took towards me.

"Are you Amanda?" I asked. She looked very beautiful. I longed to look like that. It had been a while since I'd worn a dress and heels.

"Hello Paulina," she said, enunciating every syllable and ignoring my question. "I will teach you how to embrace your beauty. You'll learn how to dress and speak. You'll see that what I'll teach you will be a very powerful weapon." She gave me a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Since you're injured, I'll start with teaching you how to speak. But that is after you and I have a little talk."

"Okay, speak," I said impatiently. What is it with these people?

"Let's start with the rules. In Division, you are to follow all orders. You're not allowed to leave until you become an agent. Then, you will live on the outside, with a cover and you cannot speak about Division to anyone who isn't a part of it."

"What happens if I do?"

"You will be canceled and so will the person you trusted."

"What do you mean by…canceling?"

She gave me another smile. "That is something you don't want to know."

My heart was hammering in my chest. These people had no problem killing anyone. Maybe that's what they did.

I nodded. "Is that all?" I said with as much nonchalance as I could muster.

"No. While you're here, you might find yourself…_attracted _to someone. And that I understand, but relationships are not tolerated. They interfere with your mission."

"Okay then... Can I sleep now?" I decided to act like I didn't care…maybe it would hide the fact that I was terrified of Amanda.

"Perhaps I will teach you manners before we begin with speech," she said before walking back towards the door. I gave her an icy look. "I will send for you in one week."

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I was sitting in the dining area picking at my food. A week had passed and I was healed. Amanda had called for me, as promised, and started to teach me how to embrace my beauty. For once, I felt beautiful. My light brown curly hair was styled for once and my brown eyes seemed nicer with the eyeliner and mascara Amanda had smeared on me. Even though I didn't show it, small things like this made me forget that I wasn't a normal girl anymore. For the age of twenty two, I still looked quite young. This used to bother me before but now I was glad. I was probably older than most of the recruits, who looked about eighteen, so I blended in.

"Hi, I'm Alex."

I looked up and saw another recruit smiling down at me. She had brown wavy hair and blue eyes. She was the nicest person I'd met so far, even if all she did was introduce herself.

"I'm Paulina. I'm new here," I said with a smile. I guess it was time I started to be nice.

"I know," she replied. "I'm kind of new too. I've been here for a few months."

"Did you also go through Amanda's beauty school?" I said jokingly, referring to her styled hair.

"Yeah, I did. I hate it," she said.

"Really? I love it. I can't remember the last time I cared about how I looked. I think I was about sixteen." I sighed.

"I never got the chance to care," she said sadly. I looked at her with sympathy. "Anyway, let me introduce you to someone," she continued. She walked over to another table to talk to someone. She walked back with the guy she had just been talking to. He looked about my age, with blonde hair and blue eyes. "This is Thom. Thom, this is Paulina."

Thom smiled at me. "Hello, Paulina," he said.

"Hey," I said with a smile.

"So what landed you in Division?" he asked.

I swallowed. "I… I killed someone." I was embarrassed to admit it out loud. I didn't want them to think I was a bad person.

"Don't worry, Paulina. It's nothing we've never seen before," he said nicely. I really liked Thom, he was… nice.

"It was an accident," I added.

He nodded understandably. "I'm here for something similar," he said sadly.

There was a moment of silence before Alex decided to steer the conversation to something less sad. "So, we have to go to the computer lab soon."

I nodded. "Is that one of those class things we have to take?"

"Yes. It's kind of like school, if you think about it," Alex said.

"That's great," I said sarcastically.

The voice of a guard came from the front of the room. "Recruits! To the computer lab!"

Everyone stood up and started to walk. I followed the rest of the people but I felt someone tug my arm. I turned around. It was Alex. "Walk with me, I can show you around afterwards."

I smiled at her, "Thanks."

We came to a doorway and everyone piled into the room which was full of computers, organized into neat rows. I took a seat in the front, next to Alex's seat and nervously waited for whatever this was, to begin. Should I call this a class? I had no idea.

Before I could continue this thought, a man stepped into the room. He had stubble on his face and longish blonde hair. He was holding a Red Bull with one hand and a laptop bag with the other. He was kind of cute.

"Oookay, recruits. Today you're going to hack into a system I, myself, made," he said with a slight smug tone. He took a look around the room and his eyes fell on me. "You're new?" he asked me with genuine curiosity.

Nervously I said, "Um. Yeah."

"Well then I guess you'll have to start from the beginning. Try to follow along," he said.

I nodded.

Alex leaned towards me and whispered, "His name is Birkhoff. The best tech guy here in Division." She added, "Hacked the Pentagon back in '93."

My eyebrows rose at this. "Damn."

Alex nodded in agreement.

"Okay, you have thirty seconds to hack it. Start!"

All the recruits were working quickly and efficiently but I just stared dumbfounded at my screen. I tried to press a few buttons but nothing helped.

I decided to just sit still and wait for this exercise to finish. Birkhoff was walking around to see how everyone was doing and stopped when he reached me. "Having problems here…um…"

"Paulina," I said.

"Right. Paulina, he said awkwardly.

"I don't understand this at all," I said. There was a buzzing sound.

"It's okay, you'll get it eventually," he said with a pat on the shoulder.

"Someone's getting special treatment from the teacher," mumbled a girl with an attitude.

I turned to give her a look when I heard Alex mumble, "Stop it, Jaden."

"Time's up!" he said loudly to the others. "Nice job, Luke, Robbie and Meredith. They were the only ones who were able to hack the system. The rest of you are staying here until you get it right." The same girl with the attitude, Jaden, rolled her eyes at Birkhoff. He turned back to me and said, "I'll teach you a few basics while the rest of them work on that."

I nodded gratefully at him. "Thanks," I said, smiling at him.

He blinked a few times nervously. "Yeah, sure." He must not be used to being thanked, I assumed.

Inwardly I was excited. I found him way cute and it had been a long time since I'd thought of someone that way. I'd always had a thing for smart guys. No relationships, I reminded myself. But still, there's nothing wrong with finding someone cute.

I sighed. "Okay then, let's start," I said.

After a few hours, everyone was done with the exercise so it was only Birkhoff and I in the lab. By then, he was less awkward and instead he was friendlier. When I started to get the hang of what he was teaching me, he gave me a warm smile that made my stomach flutter.

He took a Twizzler pack out of his bag and offered one to me. "Twizzler?" he offered.

"Yeah, sure," I said with a smile. He had nice eyes, I noted. I took a Twizzler out of the bag and took a bite. "Yum."

He smirked. "So, you think you're caught up?" He took a bite and chewed slowly.

"Yes, I think I may be as good as you already."

He scoffed. "Let's see then. Try the exercise the others were doing."

I started to work on it and in a minute, I was able to do it. "Yes!" I threw my hands up in victory.

"That's impressive," he said. "Maybe next time you can do it in thirty seconds like the others." He smiled at me.

"Thanks," I stood up to leave and stretched my arms out. My shirt lifted up a bit, exposing a bit of my stomach. I saw Birkhoff's eyes move there and then quickly look away. I blushed horribly. "See you tomorrow," I called out as I walked out.

"See ya, Paulina," I faintly heard through the closed door.

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"Paulina, are you there?"

Alex stepped into my room and looked at me. I was facing the door, daydreaming about a specific tech nerd that happened to offer me a Twizzler.

"Hey Alex," I said with a smile.

"You ready for the grand tour?" she joked. She sat down at the foot of my bed.

"Oh, yeah! I'd forgotten. Thanks," I said.

Alex stood up again and pulled me to my feet. "So did Birkhoff teach you anything? I saw he was helping you."

Don't blush, I commanded myself. "Uh, yeah, he did. Do you know I caught up to most of you? It only took a few hours too!" I said triumphantly.

"Damn, you're smart," she commented.

I blushed. "Thanks." Compliments always made me blush. It was a trait I hated. It always gave away what I was feeling. "To be honest, I think Birkhoff's cute," I whispered, in case anyone like Jaden happened to walk by my room.

"Oh my God, it's like what, your first week, and you're already crushing on the teacher?" she teased.

My face turned hot. "Please be quiet. That Jaden girl looks like she'd go tell Percy or something…. And he's not a teacher, I think."

"Don't mind Jaden. She thinks she's all that just because she's been here longer," she said with a roll of her eyes.

I thought about Jaden. She reminded me of those girls in high school who would do anything in their power to destroy your reputation if they felt threatened by you. I had a feeling she and Alex weren't exactly BFFs.

"She sounds lovely," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

Alex laughed. "Let me show you around."

Alex showed me every place that recruits like us had access to. We passed by the training arena, which I was already acquainted with. She also showed me where her room was in case I wanted to talk to her. The last place she showed me was Operations. She didn't exactly show me because we weren't allowed to go peek in but she pointed at it from the training area.

"That's Operations. The _tech _specialists work here," she said with a nudge. I playfully rolled my eyes at her. "We are only allowed there if Michael, Percy, or someone else above us takes us there. I've only been there once. Birkhoff's there like ninety nine percent of the time." She wiggled her eyebrows at me.

I laughed. "I shouldn't have told you."

"No no no, I won't tease you again. You can tell me," she said with a laugh. She yawned. "I think we should go back to our rooms. I'm tired."

"Me too," I said. "Night, Alex."

"Night, Paulina."

I walked back towards the direction we'd come from when I nearly bumped into someone.

"How are you feeling, Paulina?"

I looked up. Michael was standing there. "Fine, thanks. My stomach is still sore. I hope it doesn't scar," I said with a frown.

He smiled. "Don't worry about it. It probably won't be noticeable."

"Michael, what are we here for?" Michael jerked back a bit at the sudden change of topic.

"What do you mean?"

"Are we here to _spy _or something?"

"You are here to follow whatever orders you're given," he replied with a tight-lipped smile.

"So you mean we're here to kill if we're ordered to do so?" I asked, my voice raising a bit.

"We kill those who are a threat to the government. We don't kill for _fun_," he said with a tone one might use with a small child.

"You don't sound like you believe that, Michael," I said matter-of-factly.

"Everything you do here as a recruit and as an agent has a reason. Don't forget that, Paulina," he said dismissively.

I raised by eyebrow at him but walked away anyway. I had a weird feeling about this place but I wasn't exactly about to question anything. I did value my life, anyway.

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**I hope you liked this chapter. I will post Chapter 3 either tomorrow or Wednesday because I might have to stay after school for a bit.**

**Please review if you're liking this so far (or if you're hating it) ! I would appreciate that soooo much! :)  
**


	3. Nightmares

**Thanks to Lairah, QueenBee10 and N-Sarrova for reviewing! Also thanks to those who alerted and favorited as well! :) Here is Chapter 3.. Hope you enjoy it! :D**

**P.S. Sorry for uploading this two days later than intended... but I had a busy week at school... :c can't wait for summer. By then, either the story will be done or I'll be able to post way more often. I hope it's the latter! x**

**-xBlossom  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nikita.

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Chapter 3: Nightmares

_I had the feeling of being watched... I was standing in the middle of the run down street block, waiting for one of Simon's friends to show up with more bags of drugs to sell. Instead, he wasn't showing up and I was stuck there, waiting like an idiot. Sometimes it bothered me how lightly Simon took this whole drug dealing business…he was gonna get us caught eventually. That jerk-_

_A sound came from behind me…the sound of someone trying to be sneaky…I slowly turned and met the eyes of a man. I jumped back but he quickly grabbed my arm and covered my mouth with his hand…I tried to scream but I couldn't—_

My eyes shot open and found myself staring blindly overhead. It was dark in my room and my sheets felt heavy. I had to get out. I sat up and shivered. My body was covered in a light sheen of sweat, my hands were clammy and I had a sick feeling in my stomach. I quickly covered my mouth with my hands the moment I felt vomit rise up. I opened the door and ran to the bathroom. As soon as I threw myself at the toilet, I started to hurl. I had no idea what exactly I was hurling since I'd barely eaten today… except the Twizzlers, but that was all. I was too busy trying to not get throw up in my hair that I didn't notice someone come in the bathroom until I felt someone's warm hands pull my hair from the sides of my face.

"Are you okay?" It was Birkhoff. My heart went pitter-patter but I quickly forgot when more throw up came up my throat. Ugh, I wish I'd bumped into him in a different situation.

I quickly looked at him and shook my head before turning back to the toilet and finished puking the last remnants of whatever was in my stomach. I wiped my mouth on the back of my hand and groaned. He let go of my hair and looked at me in concern. "Thanks," I said, smiling weakly. I closed my eyes and tried to make the sick feeling go away.

"What happened?" he asked softly.

I opened my eyes and looked at him. He was kneeling in front of me, in the same jeans and untucked t-shirt as earlier which meant he probably hadn't gone to bed yet. He was breathing softly out of his mouth and the slight fruity smell, probably from an energy drink, tickled my nose. I imagined how it feel like to kiss him… Think of something else! I told myself. Then I pondered whether to tell him the truth or not. I chose to tell him… but not in detail. "I woke up feeling nauseous… I still do," I groaned.

"Do you wanna see the M.D.?" he asked.

"Let me brush my teeth first," I said as I stood up with a grunt. I turned on the faucet and reached for one the toothbrushes that they had stocked. I reached for the toothpaste and squeezed it on the bristles. I stared to brush my teeth and tried to focus on counting the number of brushstrokes, and not on Birkhoff, who was still sitting next to the toilet, watching me.

When I finished, he led me to the medical room and tried to remember how to get there. I gave up after three different turns and four different hallways. This place was huge and it would take time before I learned how to navigate it. We finally stopped in front of a door simply marked MEDICAL. He knocked on the door and opened it as soon as we heard a faint, "Enter."

He gave me a small smile as he held the door open for me. He motioned to go inside but I reached for his hand and squeezed it in gratitude before stepping inside. I noticed his body tense when I touched him and I wondered if that was a mistake, way too bold, or if he'd think I wanted him. I do, but still, I thought.

"What seems to be the problem that we need both Birkhoff _and _a recruit?" asked the doctor.

His… _non _friendliness made me nervous. "I—I…"

"You—you, _what_?" he asked rudely.

"She was feeling nauseous and puked her guts out in the bathroom. I found her there and brought her here because she's new and probably doesn't know how to get here. That explains why I'm here, George." Birkhoff answered for her, in a calm voice. It amazed her how everyone here was able to ignore rudeness and be calm. Birkhoff's tone was calm but his body was still tense.

"Hm. I see," George said bluntly. "Let me do a check up. Please lie down, recruit."

"It's Paulina," both Birkhoff and I said at the same time. I looked at him questioningly before giving him a grin. I sat down on the chair and watched Birkhoff do the same at the opposite side of the room.

"You can leave now, Birkhoff. Paulina doesn't need your _help_ anymore," George said. Birkhoff stood up again, gave George a look and quickly met my eyes before stepping out of the room. I closed my eyes for a second and made a quick prayer that I'd see Birkhoff again soon. I opened my eyes, and for once, let someone else take care of me.

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**I get this might be a bit short but I hope I gave you enough Birkhoff to last you until the next update. :) I particularly liked writing this chapter for some reason. :P**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that and don't forget to review this chapter! It only takes ten seconds to make my day-or night in my case! (EST time zone)  
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	4. Sara

**IMPORTANT NOTE: I changed the title of this fic from "Risks" to "Risky Business". Do you guys prefer the new title or do you prefer the old title?**

**Thanks to those who reviewed Chapter 3 and sorry for taking a bit long to update!  
**

**REPLIES TO REVIEWS:**

**N-Sarrova: I like little details as well. I think they make the characters more like they are on the show. Also, for this story, I'm assuming time passes between each episode so _this is after the 1x06 "Resistance"_. I get that we're way past that now but I wanted Alex and Thom in Division...at least for the beginning of this. I hope that doesn't bother anyone. I do intend to change it up a bit to make it unpredictable. :P And yes we have an accord! Haha, I'm glad you want to review them ALL. :) So thank you for that. QueenBee10: I'm glad you're loving it! ****:) ****: Thanks a lot for that! I'm glad you don't think Paulina is a Mary Sue (I hate Mary Sues). Thanks for the heads up on Birkhoff. I guess that means this I'm making him colder in this chapter to balance the OOC-ness out. :D Lairah: Hahaha thanks so much! It's okay, I love the repetition! :D Ashley199935 : Thanks a lot! Here's your update!  
**

**So I guess it's time to have a chapter follow an episode so this chapter occurs during 1x07 "The Recruit"**

**Oooh, another note. In the last episode, I had the doctor be named George because I don't remember (or know) if they gave him a name on the show.  
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**Okay, I'm done talking. Sorry for that long note. :x Here's chapter FOUR! Yay.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nikita.**

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Chapter 4: Sara

"Good morning," came the voice of Michael, who stood before us, with a gray briefcase in his hands. We were wearing all black and standing in a single file, waiting for him to give us instructions. "Some of you have been in training here more than others," he paused to open the briefcase which had six black glasses before continuing, "But none of you have experienced real wold combat as part of a strike team. So today, we will be testing your skills." We all reached for a pair. "Team Alpha will be Thom, Paulina, and Luke. Team Omega will be Robbie, Alex, and Sara. In this exercise, you only have a second, to decide, who is your friend, and who is your enemy."

We all took our positions and held our guns close. Suddenly, it started. "Okay, at the count of three, run to the nearest place," Thom instructed. Luke and I nodded. "One, two, three!"

"Go!" I heard Alex yell from the opposite side. There were sounds of bullets being shot all around. I peeked from the side of the cover and shot at three virtual gunmen. I crouched back down again. I saw Thom shoot from overhead and run to the other side. Luke took the rear and watched out for any more gunmen.

I heard Sara yell, "Alex watch out!" and shoot someone jumping at Alex. Then, in a second, Sara got shot. Her suit started blinking red, where the bullets would've hit, and the test was finished. Robbie looked pissed.

"Team Omega, better luck next time," Michael said.

We started to walk back up the ramp to leave. "Good eyes out there, Alex," Robbie said.

"Thanks," she said.

"Sara," he said, turning to Sara.

"I don't want to talk about it," she said.

"We _have _to."

"I get it, okay? I _suck_. I got us killed."

"And you're fine with that?"

"Just-," I heard Alex interrupt before pulling Sara with her. I saw Thom drag Robbie off to the side to talk.

"Sara!" I called.

"Paulina. What do you want?" She said, a bit agitated.

"Okay, I get it. It's hard. But there are others who aren't as good either. I mean, look at me, I can barely shoot, despite what Michael says."

She gave me a small smile and walked into a room to change.

I went over to another recruit, Ingrid, and asked her to unzip the gear I was wearing. As I changed, I remembered what had happened the week before, when I threw up in the bathroom and Birkhoff heard me from where he was. The day after that, when he was training us with computers, he had passed by me during the exercises without even glancing my way, or acknowledging my existence. I felt hurt. The night before he'd been so nice and then suddenly cold. I hadn't told Alex what happened in the bathroom because I knew that these things weren't allowed in Division, and as nice as Alex was, I wasn't sure if I could trust her one hundred percent. At least not for now.

* * *

I walked into the dining area and picked up a tray. I saw Alex sitting, worried. I walked over to where she was sitting with Thom and sat next to him.

"You okay, Alex?" I asked.

Her head snapped up, and she replied, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You seem kind of... worried," Thom said.

Before Alex could reply, we turned at the sound of Robbie demanding the security guard, "I wanna see Percy."

"Not possible," he said.

"Then I wanna see Michael," he said persistently.

"Why don't you go eat your lunch?"

"Why don't you do your job and pass on my request?" Robbie demanded louder. Thom started to stand up, probably to drag Robbie away from the scene he was causing.

"Wanna see me do my job?" said the guard, his hand reaching for the gun at his hip.

"Robbie, Robbie, Robbie," Thom said, putting his hand on Robbie's shoulder. "Come on." He pulled Robbie in the direction of where we were sitting.

"I want an answer! I wanna know how the lowest ranking recruit gets assigned to the field before me!"

"I know how. Sit down," he ordered. Robbie sat. "Look, you're right about Sara. She doesn't rank as high as you but she's genuine and a good listener," he explained.

"What does that have to do with combat?"

"Nothing, that's my point. Whatever mission they have her doing, they need someone who doesn't look like a fighter. Someone you don't notice-a female you don't notice. So they couldn't pick you."

"Well, that's your guess. You don't know," Robbie said.

"I know you're not missing anything."

"Robbie's right Thom, you don't know," Alex suddenly said. I raised my eyebrows as I put a spoonful of yogurt in my mouth. "I was sent on a no combat mission. I almost got _killed_, remember?"

"That was different-"

"No, it's not different. For any of us. They can use us however they want because we don't exist, you told me that. Doesn't matter if we get killed because we're already _dead_. I wouldn't be in such a rush to get out there." At that, she stood up and left.

The three of us stared at Alex walk up the steps and leave.

"What's with her?" Robbie asked.

"I don't know, she's been like that all morning," I said worriedly. "I'm gonna go see her."

I stood up and chased after Alex. "Alex!" I called out. She turned and looked at me. "What's wrong? And don't say nothing because you've been acting strange all day."

She took a deep breath. "I'm just worried about Sara, okay? I think it's strange that she was chosen. I wouldn't be surprised if she was scheduled for cancellation, but she was still activated. Doesn't that seem the slightest bit weird to you, Lina?"

I was shocked at her using a nickname but just as quickly as the thought came, I recovered and shoved the thought to the back of my head. "Yeah, it's strange. But what can we do about it? We can't just march into Percy's office and demand answers, Alex! I've thought about it as well and it does seem strange but there's nothing I can do. There's nothing you can do. The most we can do is pray and hope she comes back."

"Don't hold your breath. I doubt Sara's coming back," she said before walking in the direction of the computer lab.

I sighed and walked in the opposite direction, towards the training area. I went up to a dummy and started to punch, kick and jab at it's face in frustration. I was frustrated about lots of things. The nightmare that woke me up the night Birkhoff found me in the bathroom was returning almost every night, Sara's activation, Birkhoff being rude to me, and Michael. These were things that had been stressing me out.

"Paulina, I see you've improved," came a voice from behind me. Michael.

"Yeah, thanks," I said, dismissively before turning back to punch the bag even harder than before.

Punch, punch, kick, punch, punch.

"I see you're not happy with me," he said with a smile.

"Well, maybe if you told me what we're here for, I'd consider my attitude towards you."

Kick, kick, punch.

"Do you know where Robbie is?"

"No, why?" He pursed his lips. "Wow," I said sarcastically.

"Amanda wants to see him."

"Okay, bye, Michael," I said, quite rudely. He made me so angry.

Finally, I stopped punching and went back to my room. I laid down, closed my eyes, and let myself fall asleep.

* * *

I was awakened by the sound of alarms going off. I jumped up in my bed and opened the door. I checked the time. Crap! I overslept! I took a step outside and walked towards the training area. I gasped at the sight as my heart sank. Robbie was standing in the middle, wearing what guards wore, shooting at everyone... I tried to run back but suddenly a familiar pain shot through my arm. I fell slowly and clutched at my arm. I tried to stagger back up and run. I ran towards Operations, which was closer, and ended up stumbling into Birkhoff.

"You're bleeding!"

"I know," I huffed. I inhaled and my stomach fluttered at his scent, despite the circumstances. "I got shot."

"Why aren't you with the other recruits?" He pulled me with him, towards the others who were leaving Operations.

"I was sleeping in my room," I said as I put pressure on my arm. "Shit, it hurts!"

"It's a _gun_shot."

I wanted to punch him. "I know that," I said, just as sarcastically. He walked faster, dragging me along, and took me to Amanda.

"She's been shot," he told her.

"Are you okay, Paulina?" Amanda asked.

"Yeah, it just hurts- a lot."

Suddenly, I heard someone speak into a transmitter. "He's down?"

I heard the static reply of, "Yes."

I sighed in relief and let Amanda take me back to the M.D.

I had a feeling the M.D. and I would end up getting to know each other more. I groaned.

* * *

**Hey everyone! I hope you liked this chapter. It took me a while to write, mostly because I was rewatching the episode to get some of the dialogue as accurately as possible.**

**Please show some love and review! It only takes a second to make me happy! :)  
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	5. Next To You

**ALSO, I changed the name back. I liked Risks better. This chapter takes place at the same time as 01x08, "Phoenix". I titled this chapter after the song by Jordin Sparks. Check it out! :)  
**

**Thanks to QueenBee10, xXxCastielxXx, and Andraya_TheLat for reviewing last chapter! And thanks to the others who added the story to their favorites and added it to story alert! Thanks so much! :) **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nikita.**

* * *

Chapter 5: Next To You

An uneventful week passed by after Robbie started the gunfight when Amanda and Michael called Thom. He was going on an op and if he succeeded, he'd graduate into an agent. I was secretly hoping he'd fail and that Nikita lady would stop him so he would still be a recruit and be with Alex and me, but I also knew that sometimes, if a recruit didn't pass their graduation op, they were cancelled, and I didn't want that for Thom. He was, after all, the closest to a brother I had in here. Alex and Thom were the only family I had in Division, the only ones I trusted with my insecurities and problems. The only thing I kept to myself was the story behind the recurring dream I was having. That was something in my past that I didn't feel like sharing with anyone. Only Amanda knew, and that was because she'd practically scared me into telling her. She had a way with words. I had a feeling she could trick a criminal into admitting a crime and not even know it.

The morning Thom was sent to see Amanda, my right arm was sore from the gunshot. I sighed as I ran my finger over the closed wound. In a few days, I'd finally be able to get back to training but meanwhile, I had to spend most of what was supposed to be training time in the computer lab, catching up. I also started to get better in French by then. It helped that I'd paid attention in French class when I was in high school. "_Merde_," I said, practicing my French, as I unsuccessfully tried to type a sequence of commands onto the computer. It also didn't help that my dominant arm was sore. I groaned and banged my head on the table in front of me and repeated the same word over and over. It was one of the very few words that I could say with a perfect French accent. Which was sad, very very sad.

"Hm." I looked up. My heart skipped a beat as I recognized who it was.

"Birkhoff," I said as nonchalantly as I could, trying to hide my hands that suddenly became sweaty.

"See, you're doing this part wrong," he said pointing to the screen. He was wearing a black button-down and worn jeans, and again, his breath smelled fruity. I wanted to swoon in my seat. "You're supposed to go here, and type it again," he instructed. He looked down at me and I found myself staring at his unshaven face a little longer than I should've. I didn't even notice until he cleared his throat, seemingly self-conscious.

"Oh, yeah," I mumbled, embarrassed. I turned to the screen once again and followed his instructions. I had a sense of deja vu and realized that the first time I spent time with Birkhoff, I'd been in the same situation: Shot wounded and behind on the work. I cracked my knuckles. Finally, what I'd been trying to do for the past half hour was done in an instant and I felt stupid that I would've been there longer trying to figure it out if he hadn't showed up. "Thank you, Lord!" I practically yelled as I stretched my arms out.

"Birkhoff's fine," he said jokingly as he pulled out a pack of Twizzlers. I snorted in a very unladylike way and turned back to the screen. I stared at it, expecting him to leave, but he didn't. "How's the arm?" he asked carefully, munching on a Twizzler. He stretched out his arm, offering me one as I started to answer.

"Hurts like hell, but I can stand it. Bullets seem to love me," I said sarcastically as I took a Twizzler. He nodded in agreement at this. "Amanda's gonna kill you if she finds out you're feeding me candy. Since I can't train, I can't eat anything that can make me 'out of shape'." I shook my head at the tragedy at hand and finished eating my Twizzler.

"Screw Amanda, she's too strict. You're not going to be out of shape if you eat a bag of these babies," he said as he patted the candy bag. "Besides if you gained like five pounds, you'd still have a great body." I stared at him. Did he just say what I think he just said? "... and I meant that in the most... normal way possible," he added, avoiding eye contact.

I laughed at his nervousness. "_Merci_." Hm.. maybe he had some feelings for me too? Hopefully, I thought. Or maybe he _did_ mean that in the most normal way possible.

"Birkhoff, Percy needs you in his office," came the voice of Amanda from behind me. My blood ran cold suddenly. Crap, crap, crap. What if she heard that whole conversation?

"What- Oh, right. Percy." He gave me a look that substituted as a goodbye before he turned around and left the computer lab.

Amanda motioned at me to follow her to her office. She waited until I closed the door before she said, "Paulina, I see you've become friends with Birkhoff."

"Uh, yeah," I said, carefully.

"Hm," she said. "Anyway, that's not the problem here. Michael was thinking about making you go on your first op. You don't have to kill, you just have to get something from someone."

"Yeah, sure... but why me? Why not Alex? Or even Jaden?"

"According to Percy, you look very... sweet. So Michael and Percy think that you are perfect for this. No one will be suspicious of you."

I nodded. "Yes, I think I'm ready. Or will be, when my arm's better."

"In two days I'll call you and you'll be sent out of here. Meanwhile, read this over. This will give you the background information you need for your first op... I truly believe in you, Paulina."

"Thank you," I said as I took the folder.

I ran to my room and stopped when I heard voices.

"What do you want me to say?" hissed someone. Alex.

"I don't know, how about congratulations?" hissed someone back. It was Thom. Congratulations? Did that mean he was an agent now?

"Congratulations," said Alex, sarcastically as I heard her fiddle with her door.

I kept on walking towards my room, with my head down, hoping Thom wouldn't see me there, but of course, nothing ever went as I wanted it to.

"Lina?" he said, having also started to use my nickname.

"Heya... Thom," I said, lamely.

"You heard all of that?"

"No, just the end," I admitted, embarrassed.

"Well, what do you think? Are you mad or..." he trailed off.

"No, I'm not. I'm happy for you. Just don't forget about us here. And bring me a bag of chips one day. Please promise me," I said seriously.

Thom laughed. "Thank you, I'm glad at least you're happy for me. And yes, I promise," he said, "I will bring you chips." I hugged him tightly. "Wow, I didn't know you felt so strongly about food."

"No, you butt head, I just don't know when I'll see you again," I said, sad. He frowned.

"Soon, I hope," he said. "What's that?" he asked, pointing to the folder in my hands.

"Oh, that. I'm going on my first mission the day after tomorrow."

"Already?"

"Yeah. Well, I have to go to my room to read this over. But come as soon as you can!" I said. "Bye, Thom."

I walked to my room, sat on the desk, turned on the lamp, and started to read.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! I hope you liked this chapter. PLEASE REVIEW and tell me what you thought! :)  
**


	6. When The Guns Come Out

**NOTE: The diamond company from this chapter is made up (I got the name of the company from a heist movie named "Flawless" - so anything you read in this story is fictional) **

**This chappie is very very juicy and action packed ;D and I'm kind of proud of this one to be honest. :)**

**The operation is called South Africa because that's where the diamond is from. The diamond doesn't belong to the British Crown in this story.  
**

**I want to thank all the people who reviewed chapter 5: Redashrose, xXxCastielxXx, and Ana_Udinov.**

**Redashrose: Me too, hehheh :P :) xXxCastielxXx: Thanks for liking the line! I put it in because Birkhoff is attracted to our dear Lina and got nervous and it slipped out. :) Ana_Udinov: Thanks! And yes it's better than nothing. (I used a translator to read what you said haha)**

**Okay, sit back and enjoy our friend's latest adventure in Division! And don't forget to show some luv and review- reviewers get virtual cupcakes. ;)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nikita.**

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Chapter 6: When The Guns Come Out

I had just gotten back to Division after the op that I was sent on and I was ready to die from exhaustion. I opened the door to my room and laid down after the debriefing with Amanda. I closed my eyes, and went over the whole day in my head again.

That morning I woke up way too early and started to pace around my room with the folder in my hands. "Go in, exchange the diamond, go back. Go in, exchange the diamond, go back." I drew in a nervous breath. How did the agents stand the nervousness before an op? "Go in, exchange the diamond, go back."

I stopped pacing the room and took a look around. If I was caught, I could be killed by the guards. The documents in the folder had all sorts of information and thanks to it I learned that the CEO of London Diamonds, Eric Helling, always had his own armed men. For the first time since I arrived at Division, I looked at the details of my room. It was less bare and had more of a homey feel to it now that I added things. I had a CD player stacked with CD's next to a lamp on a nightstand beside my bed, which was in the back corner against two walls and had perfectly white sheets. On the opposite side of the room, across from the bed, was the door. To the left of that, I had a desk that was littered with the documents and all sorts of make-up I got from Amanda. I picked up a glass bottle of perfume she let me have (she gave all the girls one of our choice) and took a whiff of it. I sprayed my neck and closed the bottle and set it back where it was.

I turned to my right and headed for the door. I took a step into the empty corridor and noticed how quiet is was. It usually was quiet, but you could always hear the faraway sounds of recruits training. I walked towards the training area to lift some weights. I was significantly stronger now than I was when I first arrived at Division, and I was even able to resist more pain. It was because they threw us around a lot and didn't hold back, especially the people who trained us. They said if we were in a real combat, attackers wouldn't hold back and that's why it was necessary for us to be acquainted with pain.

I sat down on the floor and started to warm up. By the time I was done, recruits had already started to pour into the room. Michael came up to me and said, "You're ready for today?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," I replied, trying to be calm about it.

He smiled and said, "I'm glad to hear that. I hope you understand how important this mission is to Division. The client is paying a lot for this and if you're successful, you might graduate sooner."

My eyes widened at this. "Oh God. Really?" I asked excitedly. "I'm getting kind of pale from being here... I need to get my tan on," I said jokingly. He just shook his head and walked away. I hope I didn't screw this up. I would rather wait ten months to become an agent rather than a full year.

I went over to the weights and trained for about half an hour before Michael came back and told me to go with him to see Amanda. I sucked in a breath of air and exhaled. We walked to her room and stepped inside. In the room, there was a rack of clothes, accessories, a folding screen, and on the table, a briefcase. "Paulina, it's good to see you. I just need you to step behind the screen and put on," she stopped to look for something in the rack, picked out black slacks, a white button down, and a black vest and handed them to me. "...this," she finished. "And then wear these shoes," she said, motioning to a pair of black pumps. I nodded. I stepped behind the screen and quickly changed. I stepped back out. "Ah, you look lovely," she said, pleased with herself. "This is what the caterers working for London Diamonds will be wearing at the gala. You can change back now. By the way do you know what you have to do?"

I nodded. "Yes. I have to go through security, check in as Patricia Williams, go to the backroom, then open the window and take the briefcase with the fake Star of Africa and the bomb, set it off near the staircase where no one gets hurt, wait for all security to go there, sneak out to the showroom where the diamond is, trade it for the fake one, put it in the briefcase and give it to the agent waiting under the window in the backroom. Easy," I said, with fake confidence.

"Very good, Paulina," Amanda said. "I can already see you becoming one of out best agents."

I wanted to hit her. I wish I could leave this place and just undo what I did and not land myself here. "Thank you, that is a compliment." Right.

"Are you done with Paulina? I need to take her to the airplane," Michael spoke up, for the first time.

"Yes, I believe we are done. Hope to see you back by the day after tomorrow," Amanda said.

I left with Michael and walked with him and the other agent that was going to give me and retrieve the briefcase. His name was Gabriel and he had been an agent for a year already. I had no idea why I was being sent out to do this instead of him but I didn't question anything. They probably thought I didn't stand out as much as him who was big and muscular.

We stepped into the elevator and went up, up to where freedom was.

* * *

We were four hours into the flight and I wanted to choke Michael. He was going over the plan with me over and over again.

"Michael, no offense, but I think I got it by the tenth time what I have to do," I snapped.

"Paulina, no offense, but I think if you go over it you'll have a less chance of messing up," he snapped back.

I exhaled loudly and looked over at Gabriel who was reading a book... the Bible. I wanted to laugh at the irony of that.

I looked back down and picked at the food that we were given; spaghetti and meatballs. I turned back to Michael and repeated the plan all over again, "Go through security, sign in as Patricia Williams..."

* * *

It was five in the afternoon in London and I was excited. Even if I was in a hotel room, setting up things with Michael and Gabriel, I was excited. I had never expected in my whole life that I'd be in London one day.

I turned on the black laptop and turned on the webcam, as Michael had instructed me to. I wasn't surprised to see Birkhoff there but I was surprised when I saw Percy standing next to him. Or maybe he sat in on all ops, I thought.

"Birkhoff, is everything set up there? You know what to do," Michael said.

"Uh- yep. Everything is goood," he said, enlongating the word. "How is it at your end, captain?"

"Fine."

"Ah, okay," he said.

I stepped in front of the camera and waved. "Hello there, Percy, Birkhoff."

"Paulina, I'm glad to hear from Amanda that you're ready for this," Percy replied.

"Thank you, Sir," I said, not knowing what to call him. I turned around and went into the bathroom to change. I stared at myself in the mirror and took a look at myself. I looked like any other girl... like a caterer. I went into my bag and took out make up. I made sure to not over-do it and made it natural. Then, I went back out, with my hair in a ponytail and sat on one of the leather couches. "So... Gabriel, you're religious?" I asked, trying to make small talk.

He let out a chuckle. "No. My father was a priest back in Rhode Island. I just read it because it brings back memories. My parents would read the Bible aloud to us."

"Oh, I just found it ironic," I replied.

He laughed. "I see what you mean."

"Okay, you two, Operation South Africa has started," Michael said.

* * *

I walked up the steps to go to the gala where London Diamonds was showcasing their best and biggest diamonds to show off their success and prosperity, hoping that wealthy people would invest. I walked under the metal detector and was inside. I went where the caterers and other hired workers were signing in. In script, I wrote neatly, Patricia Williams. I pressed the button of my bluetooth, which wasn't covered because the caterers had them to talk with each other.

"Patty Williams signed in, over," I said.

"Roger that. Hurry. Out." Michael said from the other end. I went over to Cecily, the catering boss and called her over towards the bathroom. She didn't recognize my face but walked over anyway, after seeing me in the uniform.

"What happened?" she said in a thick British accent.

"Let me show you," I said, stepping into the bathroom.

She followed me in. "What's wrong?"

I didn't reply. Instead I hit her in the stomach and when she knocked over, hit her head on the bathroom counter. Then, I dragged her into a stall and closed it. I made sure to make it seem as she was using the bathroom by putting her feet down on the floor.

I walked out and stepped around the table closest to me where the snacks were, picked up a weird looking thing on a cracker, and ate it. I turned to one of the workers and said, "These taste horrible, I'm taking these to the backroom. No one will ever hire us again if they taste these!"

She gave me a relieved look and said, "Thank God you noticed that, I'll tell Cecily!" She was about to speak into her bluetooth when I interrupted.

"No! It's fine, I'll go show her and maybe then she'll consider changing these!" I scooped up a tray and walked quickly."Walking over towards the backroom. Out," I said pressing the button on bluetooth.

I went into the backroom. "Everyone!" No one noticed. "HEY!" Everyone stopped and looked at me. "Cecily sent me because her bluetooth's not working. She wants everyone to meet at the room next to the showroom because she wants to speak with us."

They stared at me. "Who are you again?" someone called out.

I sighed in defeat. "Cecily's cousin. She let me come here to help out."

They all started to murmur amongst themselves and decided to go, in case I was telling the truth. I walked outside with them but as soon as they walked far enough, I ran back quietly and locked myself in the backroom.

"In the backroom. Gabriel give me the briefcase," I said, pressing the button on the bluetooth.

"Briefcase is on the outside of windowsill. Over."

"Copy that. Out." I walked over to the window, opened it, and sure enough, there was the briefcase. I took it and set it on the table. "I have the briefcase," I said to Michael via bluetooth.

"Do you have the bomb in hand?"

"Yes. Turning it on," I said. I took the miniature bomb, and put it in my pocket. I closed the briefcase with the fake diamond and walked out of the backroom. "Walking to the staircase." I walked with the briefcase to the room where I sent the others from the catering company. I peeked in and sure enough, they were there, anxiously waiting. They seemed nervous, probably because there was one hour left before the gala started and they didn't know what to do. I dashed by the door and stopped at the staircase. I pretended to trip and dropped the device into a potted plant. I walked back into the backroom, took out my mp3 player, and turned it on. As soon as I pressed the "ON" button, I heard the bomb go off. "Bomb went off."

I heard screams coming from outside and peeked from the door. I saw all the security go in that direction and towards the workers. "EVERYONE! INTO THE NEXT ROOM!" When I saw the hall empty out, I left and ran into the showroom. I stepped inside and locked the door behind me. I was breathing heavily now, nervous as ever and pressed the code 3-7-5-9-3-6-0 into the dial of the glass holding the Star of Africa. I put on gloves and took out the fake diamond and set it on the floor. Then, I took the real one and put it in the briefcase, which was heavily padded, and locked it. Then, I put the fake one in the glass case and closed it back again. "Got it."

"Good job, Paulina," I heard Michael say. I took off the gloves and stuffed them into the pockets of my slacks and peeked out into the hall. I saw no one so I ran to the backroom, where I locked myself again. I heard the sounds of police sirens and I hurried up. I went to the window and opened it. I put the briefcase on the sill. "Gabriel, the briefcase is on the windowsill."

I saw him come out from the bushes and take it. "You need help getting out?"

"Yes!" I whispered hurriedly. He broke the glass of the window as much as he could. "Shh!"

"Okay, I got most of it. Just fall out, I'll catch you!" I did what he said, and tried to not yell as I tumbled out. "Okay, come with me, stay down," he ordered. I nodded and followed him, crouching behind bushes.

We ran out into the street and went towards a van labeled, "EXTERMINATOR". I shook my head and climbed in.

"Well done, Paulina," Michael said. He was sitting in the back of the van beside a computer that had the security footage of the hall. Apparently, the gala was cancelled and no had had noticed the diamond was gone, not with the fake one in its place.

I sighed in relief, glad to be out of danger. "Now what?" I asked.

"Now, you change," he said, handing me a dress and stilettos.

"What? Amanda didn't tell me about this!"

"That was because it wasn't necessary to tell you. Just change, no one can see you wearing the uniform from the caterers. The police got out that a person posing as a caterer tried to blow up the place."

I took it and reluctantly, changed with my back towards Michael and Gabriel.

* * *

I was on the plane back to Division. I was immediately taken to Operations where Percy and Birkhoff were. Percy looked at me and said, "That mission went very well because of you, Paulina. You should be proud."

"Thank you," I replied. I watched him leave.

"Wait here, I need to bring Amanda," Michael said, stepping out of the room.

I turned to Birkhoff. "Where you monitoring the mission?"

"Yes, yes I was," he said, looking up at me. "That was... amazing." He gave me a shy smile and turned back to the computer screen.

"Thanks a lot," I said honestly. "I hope I never have to do that again for a long time. I'm exhausted."

"Sit," he said, referring to the swivel chair next to him.

I happily complied and closed my eyes. "This is great. I'm so tired..."

He lent forward. "Do you have to show up for training tomorrow?"

"I sure hope not. I should get a day off," I replied. I leaned forward and put my elbows on my knees and rested my chin on my hands. "I think I rather work in Operations."

"Me too," he said, looking at me in the eye.

"Are you done flirting, Birkhoff?" Michael said, suddenly stepping into the room. "I need to take Paulina to Amanda for debriefing."

I turned beet red and didn't even need to turn to know that Birkhoff was too. "Going, Michael," I said, standing up. I turned back to Birkhoff and gave him a sad wave.

* * *

**This is the longest chapter yet. I hope you liked it. It was mostly action because Paulina, besides swooning over Birkhoff, also has recruit-y things to do.**

**SHOW THE LOVE! :) Please review!  
**


	7. Meet Me Halfway

**I know I always say this but THANK YOU SO MUCH to those who review/add to favorites/add the story to story alert. It honestly helps me find motivation to write so for that, thanks guys. In this chapter it is a day after 1x08 "Phoenix" and on the day of 1x09 "One Way"**

**I named the chapter after the song by The Black Eyed Peas.  
**

***SPOILER ALERT TO THOSE WHO HAVEN'T WATCHED THE LATEST NIKITA* Was I the only one surprised when they killed off Jaden last night? :O I was like WHAAAT?  
**

**Review replies:**

**Redashrose: Thanks so much! :) And me too! I'm glad Birkhoff had more face time on the show last night! :) AND don't worry! You'll see more of him in THIS chapter :D  
Ana Udinov: Muito obrigado por fazer um esforço para rever em Inglês. Isso é muito bom, obrigado! Estou feliz que você gostou da ação nesta parte da história, e obrigado por perceber que eu atualizei mais rápido do que o habitual. Haha, translator :)  
LittleMagpie: Thanks a lot! And oh my God, yes! There needs to be more Birkhoff/OC stories. I hope you like this chapter... you'll see why :)  
xXxCastielxXx: You know, that last bit with Birkhoff that you liked came into my head the moment I was typing! I wasn't even planning on it... but I wrote it, and I'm glad because you liked it! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nikita.**

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Chapter 7: Meet Me Halfway

I woke up to the sound of my alarm at seven on the dot. I rubbed my eyes and laid there, staring at the white ceiling overhead. I knew I had to get up to start training because Amanda didn't let me have the day off. I stayed there, preferring the feel of the warm sheets over the feeling of being punched in the face during combat training. I finally sat up, feeling slightly lightheaded. I ignored it and instead walked to a drawer with gym clothes. We didn't own any other clothes besides these for training but I didn't really mind. They were comfortable. I started to change into the black tank top and black yoga pants that I picked out for the day.

I walked to the dining room and picked up some oatmeal, orange juice and a blueberry muffin. I went and flopped down in the seat across from Alex.

"Where were you the last two days?" she demanded.

"I was sent on an op," I replied as I sipped my orange juice.

"Already?" She looked shocked. "And why didn't you tell me about the op? I could've helped you go over it."

"I spent the day before the op reading over the plans and stuff so I didn't have the chance to." I said. "You know, I had to steal this_ huge _diamond and replace it with a duplicate! And it wasn't a kill mission..." I trailed off as I noticed that her right wrist was in a brace. "So what happened to your wrist?"

"Oh, you know how we always get hurt in training. It's nothing, really," she said.

"Ah, okay. Well, I hope it heals fast."

"Thanks Lina... Well, I gotta go. Practice and stuff," she said as she quickly shuffled out of her seat.

* * *

I was in the computer lab in the afternoon when Alex came in. She saw me, waved and took a a seat at a computer three rows behind me. I was practicing typing and was getting better. My computer skills weren't that great so I took some time almost everyday to practice because if I wanted to graduate and survive out in the field, I had to be better at everything. I was getting better, but I still had room to improve.

After about fifteen minutes, Alex stood up and ushered out of the computer lab. I ignored her strange behavior and kept working. When Alex wanted to talk about it, then she would.

I kept trying to type and always messed up when it came to the letters on the bottom row of the keyboard. I groaned and leaned back into the seat. I closed my eyes... and then I remembered that I was supposed to be in class.

"Crap!" I stood up, switched off the computer, and ran out the door. I was so busy running out the door, that I didn't notice Birkhoff walking the opposite way and crashed into his chest. He yelled and dropped all the papers he had in his hands. "Oh my God, I am so sorry!" We both bent down at the same time to pick up his stuff, and our heads painfully bumped together. "Ow," I said.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. He gave me a nervous smile and stood up, now standing taller than me, by about a foot.

Now I didn't know what to do. I was still nervous from last night when he had basically told me in my face that he wished I could work in Operations with him. "... It's ...okay," I said, looking down at the floor. I wanted to slap myself. How more lame could I get?

"...Good," he said.

"Well... see you around, Birk-"

I trailed off as I looked up, realizing exactly how close we were. My breath hitched a little. "...hoff." He didn't step back. We stood there without moving for a few seconds before I decided it was better to get out of that situation. It would only bring trouble to the both of us. I started to walk away when reached for my hand.

"Paulina," he said softly. He pulled me closer, into his personal space, and looked at me in the eyes. I realized how nice his soft brown eyes were. I could smell the Red Bull lingering a little in his breath and the smell of cologne coming from his clothes. He looked at my lips and then back up to my eyes and I realized what he wanted to do. I held my breath as he started to lean in. I closed my eyes and leaned towards him. When out lips finally met, I wanted to melt. His lips were so soft and he tasted like candy. I heard him dropping his stuff to put his hands on my waist. I put my hands behind his neck, liking the feel of his hair on my hands.

He pulled away, for just a second and looked me in the eyes, as if he was asking me if he could kiss me again. He must've seen something encouraging in my eyes because he pulled me even closer and leaned in again, painfully slow. I couldn't stand the tension, I _had _to feel his lips on mine again. I leaned towards him and kissed him, this time more roughly. His hands moved up from my waist to my back and the kiss escalated. Our feelings for each other were finally coming out and it only made the kiss more passionate. His soft hair was tickling my face and his breath was making me dizzy. Our lips fit into each other's perfectly and at that moment, there was no one in the world but him and me.

That was the moment I realized I was crazy about Birkhoff.

* * *

I stepped into the class, hurriedly trying to fix my hair which was probably mussed from... before.

"Thank you for gracing us with your presence, Paulina," the instructor said sarcastically.

I ignored his remark and sat down on the only available seat which was beside Jaden.

"_Someone_ looks happy," Jaden said.

"That's because I am," I said without looking at her, not letting her horrible personality bring mine down. I picked up a camera and tried to follow along since I missed the first part of the class.

"What happened, Lina?" asked Alex, who was sitting in front of Jaden.

"Nothing."

"...Really?" she asked skeptically. She gave me a look that seemed to say, _You better tell me later._

I nodded at her and kept working. Jaden narrowed her eyes at me.

* * *

I was sitting on Alex's bed telling her the reason why I was late.

"BIRKHOFF AND YOU DID _WHAT_!" she practically screamed. She had a huge grin on her face.

"Alex! Be quiet!" I hissed.

"Oops!" she said. Then continued in a whisper, "Birkhoff and you did _what_?"

I blushed at the memory. Afterwards, he'd said in between kisses, "I have to go. Percy needs me."

"You heard right the first time, Alex! Don't make me say it again... what if someone hears?"

"They won't... but, oh my God. I never thought Birkhoff had that in him..."

"You never thought he had what?" I asked curiously.

"You know..." she said with a grin. "I never thought he'd be good at kissing or anything like that. Guess I was wrong from what you're telling me." I was embarrassed at how much of a big deal she was making out of it. I was never the one to share these kinds of things with anyone but with Thom gone, I only had Alex to talk to and she grew on me.

I paused before I said, "Okay, change of topic."

She took a deep breath. "Okay... So... I don't mean to ruin your mood, but I might need your help with something."

* * *

"Alex," Amanda called out. She stepped into the medical room. "Tell us again."

"I came in to get my wrist checked and he... he grabbed me... And he said that no one had to know... And I couldn't do anything because of my wrist," I heard her say.

I was standing outside of the medical room with Jaden, who looked like she wanted to strangle me. Alex told me she was going to lead Jaden toward a vent and she wanted me to take a picture, in case Jaden was able to take her camera and delete it. She said that she needed Jaden to agree with her on something in front of Amanda, so she wouldn't get in trouble for looking for her file in the doctor's computer. She said she only wanted to know if she could find anything about why she was recruited. I understood what she felt and agreed to help her. I was just there to in case Jaden tried to tell the truth. If she did, I'd step in and say I saw and Jaden was lying.

"You can't possibly believe her," George said nervously.

"She has a witness," Percy said.

"Who?"

That was Jaden's cue to go in. She stepped inside the medical room. "I heard noises. When I came in, he was on top of her. So I hit him," Jaden said.

"He said if I said anything, I'd get in trouble... Jaden finally convinced me to speak up," Alex said. I couldn't believe how good of a liar she was.

"Aw, come on, Percy," George said.

"If these two are on the same page, it has to be true," Amanda said.

Percy motioned at the guards to take George.

"Come on, this is absurd. She's lying," he was saying as they took him. "I didn't do anything. Percy! Percy, I swear... I'm telling the truth! Percy!"

Alex and Jaden left the room. "I swear I'm gonna find a way to get you both cancelled!" Jaden hissed at us. "I swear." She huffed past us and went in the direction of the recruits' rooms.

Alex and I shared a look and went off to dinner. We were walking with our arms linked together, whispering about everything that had happened today when we saw Birkhoff walking in our direction with his dinner in hand. I noticed Alex put on a poker face.

"Hey Birkhoff," she said.

"Hey Alex," he said. He turned to me and said, "Hi, Paulina."

I tried to not blush and said, "Hi, Birkhoff."

He kept on walking and Alex started giggling. "That was so strange."

"I know," I said. "But it's fine... I wonder when I'll see him again and..." I trailed off as I let my memories take me away.

She smiled at me. "What would you do if I told you I kissed Thom?"

I stopped walking. "NO. NO WAY!" I said surprised. She nodded. I grinned and added, "Now I have someone to bother you about."

She laughed. "Yeah, I guess you do." We linked arms again and walked to the dining room in silence.

That night, I went to sleep with a smile on my face.

* * *

**I hope you guys liked this chapter. I was typing their first kiss scene with a smile on my face because I went all fangirl-y. I barely plan out anything so I'm just as surprised as you guys when you read my writing.**

**Please review and tell me if you thought that it was fine to advance their relationship or if I should've waited a little longer.**

**Till next time! :)  
**


	8. No Letting Go

**I am so happy with the response I got from last chapter! Thanks a lot! :) To all of you who are wondering what will happen with Paulina and Birkhoff, read on... :)**

**This chapter is titled after the song by Wayne Wonder. You must check it out. It's a bit old but great! :)  
**

**This one is set during 1x10 "Dark Matter"  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nikita.**

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Chapter 8: No Letting Go

I decided to go to the computer lab thirty minutes before Russian class. Birkhoff came into the lab and dragged a chair over. I stopped typing and turned towards him. He was wearing dark blue jeans, a navy blue shirt, and a black hoodie. He looked really cute. "I figured you'd be here," he said, adjusting his shirt.

I tilted my head to the side. "How come?"

"Well... you weren't in your room," he said in a tone that seemed to say, "_Duh_."

"You know where my room is?" I asked, surprised.

"...Now I do," he said, looking sheepish. "I looked up your file to see where I could find you."

"Oh," was all I could say. I wondered if he saw what used to be my occupation before landing in Division. And I didn't mean my job at the local Wal-Mart. "I'm not addicted to heroin, if you're wondering," I said dryly.

He blinked in confusion. "What?"

"Oh, I guess you didn't read _that _part of my file... I used to sell drugs. Mostly heroin," I said seriously.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Oh," he said. "I didn't know that," he said nonchalantly. There wasn't a single sign of judgement coming from him. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. When I didn't say anything, his face slowly turned serious. "...There was a reason why I was looking for you," he said.

My heart skipped a beat. "Why?" Did he mean about...

"Well... you know... about the _other_ day," he said meaningfully.

"Yes, of course I know," I said. "...What about it?"

He closed his eyes for a second before saying, "I came here to... I mean, I'm here because... I..." he sucked in a short breath before continuing, "I wanted to say..."

"What?" I asked impatiently.

"...Paulina. I like you. I mean, I _really _like you..." I stared at him intently. "A lot, actually," he added quietly to himself. "But I shouldn't have-" he broke off to look down at his hands and continued, "...I shouldn't have kissed you."

I let what he was saying sink in. My eyes started to sting. Crap, don't cry now! I told myself. He took a deep breath. "If we were in any other situation, any other one that wasn't... _this one_, I would've asked you out to dinner and a movie or something like that... but here you know I can't do that."

I nodded sadly at him. "Uh-yeah, I understand." I felt so hurt. I couldn't believe I finally found that one guy that seemed to really like me and now, I couldn't be with him.

"Aw, shit... please don't cry," he desperately.

I put my hands up to my face and felt the traitorous tears I hadn't noticed fall.

I let out a small shaky laugh. "I didn't even notice I was crying." I wiped my eyes with the sleeve of my hoodie. "But yeah, I understand, Birkhoff... I just wish..." I trailed off.

He reached out to me and pulled me out of my seat and into his arms. "Me too," he said. I wrapped my arms around him and took a deep breath. He still smelled wonderful, like cologne and Red Bull. His smell by itself was enough to make me dizzy. I pulled my head back to look at him. His face was scruffy that day and his hair was mussed, like it always was. I smiled at him and kissed him on the cheek. He looked at me, eyes full of emotion, and leaned in. He gently pressed his lips to mine gently, for a second, and then broke the embrace. "I have to go," he said, getting up.

I nodded at him. "See you."

* * *

After the class ended, I walked to the training area. Though Birkhoff hadn't _exactly_ said we shouldn't see each other, I was still upset. I rolled my neck around as I walked towards the weights. I picked up two dumbbells. I set them on the floor next to me and started to stretch. As I stretched, I saw the elevator open, and an old man, maybe forty or forty-five, step out of the elevator. He had glasses with black frames, a tan coat, and a briefcase in hand. I noticed Alex watching him curiously. As he walked past her, she turned off the treadmill she was on and stepped down. Then, Jaden went up to her and started to say something, probably something hostile.

She then seemed to be taunting her and I rolled my eyes. Jaden had declared war but she couldn't do anything, not with two incriminating pictures of her escaping Division in Alex and my possession.

They walked together towards the mat and started sparring. I turned my attention back towards the dumbbells and started to lift.

* * *

I was walking to my room when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned and saw someone running. I turned to look around the corner of the hallway. They stepped into the vent that we tricked Jaden into getting into. Curiosity got the best of me, and I decided to go in as well. I heard the person shut the vent behind them. I crawled right up to the front and peeked out of the vent. I clapped my hands over my mouth in surprise as I saw who it was... Alex. I held back the gasp that wanted to escape my lips and waited for her to make her next move. I saw her turn around and walk back towards the wall. I couldn't see her anymore from the angle I was, so I decided to wait.

Finally, I heard her drop into another vent. I opened the vent and stepped out. I was standing on a small platform and under me, there was a huge drop. I couldn't even see the floor; it was too dark. Up above, was an opening that appeared to lead to the outside world. I tucked this little piece of information in my head for future reference and continued my exploration.

I heard Alex crawling noisily so I went through a different one. I climbed up the metal ladder and dropped my body into the vent. As I landed, I felt the coldness of the vent. I shivered and pulled my hoodie tighter around me.

I traveled down the vent quietly and patiently until I reached the end. I was facing directly across from a vent in an office... Birkhoff's from the looks of it. He was staring horrified at the corpse of the man I saw in the training area. Percy was patting down his suit, removing invisible lint from it.

"Oh my God! Oh my God, what did you do?" he managed to choke out.

"I promoted you," Percy said calmly. Birkhoff just looked down at the body of the man, his neck twisted in a weird angle, and looked away, eyes widened in shock. "Now go," he said, motioning to the door. "Be brilliant." Birkhoff just stood there, his hand over his hand. "Go, I'll take care of this," Percy said.

Birkhoff took one last look and quickly shuffled out of the room.

I noticed my eyes were tearing by then. I realized my biggest fear was confirmed: they _would_ kill anyone mercilessly. I decided that I'd stay away from Birkhoff... especially if they'd do to me (or us) what Percy did to that man. They would have no problem killing me, at least. The one who "tainted" their top computer specialist. I wanted out of Division.

* * *

I was sitting on my bed, my back against the wall and my arms wrapped around my knees. I leaned my forehead on my knees and let out heavy, choking sobs. I didn't want this life. I would take the drug dealing over this. I wish I'd been convicted and sent to jail. Anything was better than this. Sure, they fed me, clothed me, gave me a shelter. But at what expense? My humanity? That was all I had left. I had no family anymore, never really had friends, never had dreams. I would become an empty shell of a person if I stayed here. They were only going to use me to kill, kill some more and then maybe, if I happened to survive, be killed after I was rendered useless and they had nothing left for me to do.

I decided I would escape Division. But the question was when? And how? ...And did I have the courage to do it? For that last question, I doubted I did. I could plan it out perfectly, but carrying it all out, that was something I wasn't sure I could do.

But maybe... just maybe... if I was promoted to an agent, I could finally make a run for it.

I sighed. Time would tell. After hours of crying, I finally fell asleep, fully clothed and curled up into a little, insignificant ball.

* * *

**So what did you guys think? Sorry for posting this a bit later than usual, but I was busy with school. Can't wait for summer! THANKS TO THOSE WHO REVIEWED.  
**

**Don't forget to review! Reviews make me happy, and a happy writer makes a happy ending! Well, that's not true but... ya know. :)**


	9. Dirty Little Secret

**I want to say thank you to all who reviewed the last two chapters! It made my week! Here is chapter 9... Just one more and we'll be in our double digits! Yayy. CUPCAKES FOR ALL NEXT CHAPTER! :P**

**I know this chapter is short but that's because I'm planning on updating more this weekend. :) hip hip, hooray!  
**

**Don't forget to review! x**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nikita.**

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Chapter 9: Dirty Little Secret

"So, Alex..." I was saying as I munched on my blueberry muffin during breakfast.

"Yeah?" she said. That day, she looked bit more jittery than usual.

"Why did you choose that vent to trick Jaden?" I asked bluntly, refusing to meet her gaze and instead reached for my orange juice. I took three long swigs and went back to my muffin.

She blinked repeatedly. Probably thinking of an excuse, I assumed. How did she know about the vents? She must've done some serious thinking to figure it out... and unauthorized exploration. Maybe she also wanted to leave this place and was trying to find a way out. Maybe she and I could help each other

"Uh-"

"Don't worry about it," I said. "I went inside the day Jaden pushed that cabinet in front of the vent." I kept a calm voice as I spoke and watched Alex carefully, hoping I'd see something that would let me know she wanted to leave as well.

Her eyes narrowed. "Why are you asking me? You're not gonna tell are you?" she hissed. "Because don't forget, I know one of your dirty little secrets... the one about _Birkhoff_."

My eyes widened. How could she say that to me? "You know what, Alex? I was asking you because I thought you wanted to escape this dump, just like me. _Especially _after I saw that opening through the vent. But now I see how much you love blackmailing... And don't forget, I also know about you and Thom. And I noticed you sneaking off into the computer lab to do God knows what. So take your threat. And shove it because I am no longer your friend," I hissed as I stood up, pushing my chair back with a screeching sound. I turned, snatched my muffin and sulked off to the computer lab.

I walked to the hall, my eyes stinging from the talk I had with Alex when Jaden approached me. "Trouble in paradise?" she said with a mocking smile.

Without even bothering to look at her, I said, "Go away."

She rolled her eyes and said, "Whatever, just don't forget... you're going down."

"Yeah, yeah," I said, shooing her with my hands. "Just don't forget, there's _two _pictures of you floating around in two separate cameras that are hidden _somewhere _in this whole place... I doubt you can do anything. In fact you know what? If you didn't want me to show it to Percy, I can make you do whatever I want. So leave me alone. I'm not in the mood!" I couldn't believe the words I was saying. Just a few moments ago, I'd called Alex a blackmailer and now here I was, telling Jaden I could blackmail her if I felt like it.

Her face turned red with rage. "You stupid bitch! You think you can get me to do whatever you want? Nothing lasts forever. Not even a picture!"

"-Is there a problem here?" Michael cut in. I hadn't even noticed him walking towards Operations.

I turned to him, gave him my most winning look and said, "No, everything's just... peachy," as I wrapped my right arm around Jaden's shoulders and pulled her in. "We're friends," I said. Jaden looked like she wanted to kill me but she just went along with it.

"Yes, Michael, _friends_," she said, a bit harshly, but convincing anyhow. He gave us an exasperated look and walked away. "I hate you," she hissed, pushing me off and started to walk back to the dining room.

* * *

It was almost nighttime and I was sitting on my bed, listening to music from a CD player, trying to forget the look of hurt on Birkhoff's face after I saw him in class and wordlessly walked by, without acknowledging him. Every time he tried to catch my eye, I'd look back at my computer screen and work on the exercise he assigned us. After a few minutes, he realized I wasn't going to meet his gaze, so he turned colder and gave us an extremely difficult exercise on decrypting information and seemed to take pleasure out of barking orders at us. I felt guilty but there was nothing I could do to give him what he wanted without putting him and me in danger.

After he yelled at us because we all failed at decrypting what he assigned, I met his gaze and gave him an amused smile. He was being childish and was letting it out on all of us. He seemed to calm a little bit after that and finally, when we finished, let us out. "Paulina, can I speak to you for a moment?"

I nodded slowly and tried to ignore the look Alex was giving me. If she was going to be like that, so be it. He waited until everyone left before he sat down on his swivel chair and leaned forward, resting his elbows on a table. He motioned at me to sit as well so I did. "Yeah?" I said, trying to be as detached as possible.

His eyebrows knitted together for a quick instant and I wasn't sure if he'd actually done it or if I'd imagined it. "What's wrong?" he said.

"I'm doing what you said yesterday," I said, trying to keep from showing the turmoil of emotions I had, from slipping out. "I'm staying away from you."

"I never said that!" he said, almost scoffing. I wanted to smile at his outburst, secretly touched that he cared enough.

"You said we couldn't be together, therefore, I'm staying away," I said as calmly as possible, trying to use Amanda's trademark tone of voice. "You can't have both."

He stared at me through his hair which had fallen into his face. I wanted to brush it back and plant a kiss on the lips that were set in the deep frown that was directed towards me. "...I want you, Lina," he said, his voice almost soft, and my heart almost burst out of my ribs at the sound of my nickname. How much I wanted to yell "Yes! I want you too!" and then run off into the sunset and all those things but I couldn't.

"I'm sorry, Birkhoff, I can't give you that... I don't feel that way for you," I said, my voice sounding far-away in my head.

He looked at me in disbelief. "Just yesterday you told me otherwise!" he almost yelled, standing up.

I stood up as well, and looked up at him. "I'm sorry." I turned on my heel and walked out the door.

I could feel Birkhoff's angry stare on my back as I walked away from him.

A small tear went down my face at the thought of everything. I was alone in Division now too. I had no more friends and now I'd just given up on the only man that seemed to care about me.

I walked to my room and told myself that self-pity didn't look cute on me. By the time I turned the doorknob, I felt a little better but what was waiting for me on the other side of the door, sitting on my bed made me forget any progress I'd made.

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** Yes, a cliffhanger, muhahaha! But don't worry, I'm updating this baby soon. :)**

**Don't forget to review!**

**And wow, we're almost to the double-digits (in chapters)! This calls for virtual cupcakes for everyone!**

**xBlossom  
**


	10. Nikita I

**This chapter is set during 1x11 "All the Way". The previous chapter was set between this one and "Dark Matter"  
**

**Thank you to those who read the story, to the reviewers, to those who added this to story alert, and to those who added it to their favorites. Thank you all! :) So very MUCHO.**

**IMPORTANT: I wanted to clear up something from last chapter that I realized might've been confusing about when Paulina was in her room listening to the CDs. The last scenes with her with Birkhoff and the person in her room already happened. She was just remembering or reflecting. I cut it off where I did for a cliffie. And this chapter is a continuation of what happened that day. After she falls asleep, it's back to how it usually is. :)  
**

**AND because this is chapter 10, everyone gets chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles! :)  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nikita.**

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Chapter 10: Nikita PART I

"Hey, Lina, can I talk to you for a sec?" Alex was sitting at the edge of my bed, her hands on her lap, her hair up in a ponytail. She was twiddling her thumbs nervously as she stared at me, waiting for my response.

"Sure, whatever," I said indifferently. "What do you want?"

"I...I'm sorry," she said.

"That's nice," I replied coldly.

Her frown deepened. "Please, don't be like that. Just please let me explain something," she said.

I let out a shaky breath, trying to control myself from yelling at her to get out of my damn room. "Talk."

She sighed in relief and opened her mouth to speak. "I said what I said just because I thought you were threatening _me_. I would never call you out on the Birkhoff thing... I just said that out of desperation... I just couldn't think of something on the spot when you asked about the vent," she said.

I nodded at her and kept quiet, not sure what to say. "Okay, Alex... I accept your apology." She gave me a small smile and patted the spot next to her on my bed. Hesitantly, I went to sit next to her.

"So what's happened with you?"

I looked down at my hands and shrugged.

She put her arm around my shoulder and gave my shoulder a squeeze. "What happened?" she asked. "There's something wrong, I can tell."

"...When I was in the vent... I saw Percy standing over the body of that old man from yesterday. The bald one with glasses. And Birkhoff was there," I said quietly. I felt her stiffen next to me. I looked at her. "You saw too?"

She nodded slowly. "I saw it happen."

I stared at her in surprise. "Birkhoff had nothing to do... right?"

"No, he didn't. Award of the innocent bystander goes to him," she said glumly.

I sighed in relief. I had no clue why I was relieved; I had never assumed he had anything to do with it, but hearing it come from someone else's mouth made it more real. "Alex, I wanna bust out of here."

"I can help with that. I already had a plan for myself but I can show it to you," she said in a hushed tone, in case someone was near my room.

I nodded silently and whispered back, "Thank you."

She gave one last look and said, "I have to go on an op tomorrow for the next two days. If I complete it, I'm an agent."

"Come back alive," I said, semi-joking, semi-serious. She grinned and left the room. As soon as the doors closed, I went over to the CD player and blasted it, hoping that the loud volume would shake out any thoughts about Birkhoff and about Division.

* * *

I was running on the treadmill next to Alex's, talking about her op in short puffs of breath. "Today, I go to scope out the place." She let out a breath and kept running.

"And then?" I managed to get out. My legs were telling me they wanted a break but I wasn't listening. I had to run a mile in less time than the last time I tried.

"Tomorrow, I complete the mission." She slowed down and let herself slide off the treadmill. She took her small towel and dried her sweaty face. "Oof, I'm done."

I kept on running for a few more minutes while Alex dried herself off next to me. I jumped off and fell back on a bench. I took a long swig of water and tried to calm down my wildly beating heart. "Alex, please visit me when you're an agent," I said. "Thom didn't," I added sadly.

"...You know Thom's here, right?"

"What?" my mouth opened in shock. "He never came to say hello!"

"That's because he's also going on the op with me. He'll find time to see you," she assured me.

From behind Alex, I saw Michael coming. "Alex, Amanda wants to see you."

I looked at Michael and said hello before waving goodbye to Alex. I walked in the direction of the showers to wash the sweat off my body.

* * *

I was about to enter my room, fully showered and smelling like strawberries when Amanda called for me.

"There you are," a guard was saying. "Amanda needs you in her office now."

"Okay," I said as he took me to her office. I hesitantly knocked on the door.

"Come in," Amanda said through the door.

I turned the doorknob and took a small step inside the room. "You needed me?"

"Yes. Close the door." I complied and waited for her to say something. "Sit." I sat on the leather chair across from hers. There was a small table in between us with two teacups and a steaming teapot. "You're probably wondering why you're here."

I nodded and said, "Yes."

"As you know, Alex is going on a mission. And if she completes it, she'll be an agent." She took the teapot and poured me a cup. Then she poured one for herself. She set it down, and exchanged it for her full teacup. I stared at the teacup, wondering whether to drink or say something. "Drink," she ordered. "Green tea," she said as she took a sip. "My favorite."

I took the hot cup in my hand and gingerly took a sip. It was a bit bitter but good, nonetheless. "What does her mission have anything to do with me?" I asked curiously.

"Michael thinks that after your success in Operation South Africa, it might be a good idea for you and a few other recruits to join the mission. He thinks it will be a way to have more experience. But I told him it wasn't such a good idea," she said.

"...So... am I going?"

"No," she said.

"So then why am I here?" I asked, wanting to strangle her. She was so frustrating.

"I told him instead that it might be better if you and the other recruits sat in Operations so you could see how it works during a mission."

"So when do I go to Operations?" I asked. I was a bit excited. If I was in Operations, I'd get to see how it all worked... maybe use that to my advantage. But then my heart almost stopped. I'd forgotten for a second that Birkhoff would most likely be monitoring the mission. _Birkhoff_, I thought sadly.

"What about Birkhoff?" Amanda asked curiously.

I must've spoken his name out loud! "Um... I meant, Birkhoff is monitoring the mission right?"

"Yes," she answered tentatively as she watched my face. She seemed to be analyzing my expressions. I tried to mask my nervousness. I couldn't slip up like that ever again.

"And Percy?" I asked as well, hoping that would make Amanda think I was just being curious.

"Only if something goes wrong," she answered. "You can go if you'd like," she said. I nodded graciously and hurried out the room. I wanted to get away from Amanda. I didn't want her to find out about what had happened with Birkhoff this last week.

I walked to my room and was surprised to see Thom standing outside my door, waiting for me.

"Thom!" I yelled. He smiled widely and walked towards me. He gave me a big, warm hug and rocked me from side to side. "I haven't see you in so long!"

"I know," he said. "I've been so busy." He reached into his briefcase and pulled out a brown paper bag and handed it to me. "For you," he said.

I raised my eyebrow and took it. I looked inside and... "Chips!" I laughed. He hadn't forgotten. "Thank you!" I said as I reached into the bag and pulled out a smaller chip bag. There had to be at least four inside. I opened it and put one round heavenly crispy chip in my mouth and almost died of happiness. I had to refrain myself from moaning. "You gotta enjoy the little things," I told him as I offered him one. He reached into the bag and popped one in his mouth and ate it slowly. The only sound in the hallway was the sound of crunching chips and the crinkly bag.

"I've missed you and Alex," he said, finally breaking the silence.

"Me too, Thom." I smiled and put the chips away. "I'm glad to see you're not hurt... watch out for yourself, okay?" I said seriously.

He nodded. "I will, Paulina."

I spent the entire afternoon with Thom, only leaving when I had classes. By the time Alex came back, they went off together to talk. I smiled at the two of them and went to the mat at the training area to spar with a recruit named Jonathan.

* * *

The next day, I was on the treadmill when I saw Michael with a syringe, teaching Alex how to stab it correctly into someone's larynx. They were using a dummy as practice. I assumed it was for the op that was going to start in a few hours. I supressed a shudder and kept running. My times on the treadmill were improving and I was proud of myself. I ran faster and faster while I watched Alex stab the dummy in the larynx. It felt horrible, knowing that someone was going to die today and not be able to do anything about it. In front of me, I saw Birkhoff walking towards where Michael was with Alex. I slowed down and let the treadmill stop. I took a drink of water from my bottle and watched him. I couldn't be with him but I could watch him from afar.

I was too busy thinking about him that I didn't notice him looking at me with an unreadable expression on his face. Something in my chest constricted. I looked down, sad I couldn't say hi to him. When I looked back up, he was leaning on the railing, looking at Michael.

I heard him say, "Hey Michael, can I get your help-I wanna, uh, show you something," he said in a nonchalant tone. Underneath, I could almost hear a little bit of urgency.

He left Alex and went with Birkhoff into Operations. I saw Birkhoff turn back to look at me one last time before he took a step out into the hallway.

* * *

A few hours later, I was sitting on a swivel chair, behind Birkhoff, with four other recruits. Percy was standing in the back of the room. I wondered if something happened that needed him to be here.

On the screen was the security footage of the wedding party where Alex would take out the target. Through the monitor, I saw Alex, in a blue dress with a Bluetooth, walking around, greeting people. We could hear Michael ask Alex if she could see the target.

"In the cocktail area," she replied. Birkhoff leaned back and let out a sigh. I could feel his heavy presence and I wondered if he was as aware of me as I was of him. From where I was, I could see the stubble on his face. I could almost imagine how he smelled like. I made myself snap out of it. I couldn't slip up again and this time, in front of Percy.

"Copy. Have our wedding planner move the bride."

"En route... Ms. Miracle," she said. I saw Alex nod at the wedding planner, who followed Alex out.

"Watching the cameras," Birkhoff said. "No sign of her yet. Maybe Niki couldn't wrangle an invitation." Niki? As in _Nikita_? I was glad I could be watching. Maybe I'd be able to see the infamous rogue agent in action.

"She's in there, somewhere," Percy bit out harshly.

I turned to a recruit, Samantha, and mouthed, "Wow." She nodded and we turned back to the screen.

"... Have Team D take position in the south exits," Percy ordered.

"Aye, captain," Birkhoff said, and proceeded to do as Percy said. I felt my lips turn up in a small smile. Birkhoff was so cute.

In the next few minutes, we watched as Alex went up to Thom, who was dressed like a bartender, and asked him for a glass of water. He gave her the water, and slid a napkin with the syringe underneath. They gave each other small nods and Alex walked back to the room where the bride used to be.

"Mr. Zoman, hi. Bria's been requesting to see you," she said to the man she was supposed to take out.

"Well, we can't deny the bride, can we?" he said. I started to chew on my nails. This was it, I thought. The moment when Alex would finally kill someone and be promoted. She gave a small laugh and led Mr. Zoman out.

Suddenly, the power went out. Through the screen, we saw the guests stop talking and stare at the lights that had gone out.

"She's there, they just haven't found her," Percy said as he leaned on Birkhoff's chair. I stiffened at our proximity. I was too close to the coldest man in Division and I didn't want him near me. I tried to slide a little to my left but there was another recruit there. I couldn't move more so I just tried to ignore how uncomfortable I was and kept watching. "Trick her out," he said.

Birkhoff proceeded to bring up something that looked like a chat box and typed, "WHERE R U?"

"What is he doing?" asked Samantha.

"That is none of your business," Percy snapped. Touchy.

Samantha fell back and stared down at her hands. I gave her a small smile. Then, we heard a commotion. Through the frequency, we heard Alex tell Michael that the syringe broke. He told her to take out the target.

I could feel my heart beating and my hands were cold and sweaty. Oh, God.

"Nikita's on site," I heard Thom say. "I repeat, Nikita is on site."

Alex hadn't responded so Percy assumed the worst.

Percy grabbed Birkhoff's headset. "Michael, crash the party. Kill the target and Nikita."

We saw the strike team come in and start shooting. People were screaming and running out of the estate, running for their lives. I put my hand up to my mouth in shock. Thom took out the target... and Nikita had Alex.

* * *

**I cut it off here because I thought it would get too long. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I hope the next one will be up soon.**

**Thanks for reading and please review! :)**


	11. Nikita II

**Georgina & Lairah: Thank you guys for reviewing! I would've sent a PM but you're anonymous. :/ Thank you thank you thank you! :)**

**Okay so here is PART DEUX! :) It's still set in the same episode as last chapter. ENJOY! And don't forget to press the review button. MERCI.  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nikita.**

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Chapter 11: Nikita PART II

The next morning, word got out that Alex caught Nikita. Nikita had taken Alex to a shed by the estate where the mission had taken place and when Nikita heard the strike team near, she reached for a gun and that was when Alex made her move. I was surprised Alex had been able to take her down, but something seemed kinda... off.

If a strike team couldn't bring her down, how could, no offense, _Alex _do it? We all heard the different stories and rumors. I pretty much had the idea implanted into my head that Nikita was dangerous and could take down almost anyone...

So they had to have a stroke of luck or something for a recruit to successfully catch Nikita.

I didn't get to see Alex until lunch time. She was jittery, and in a rush. As she walked down to where I was sitting with my tray, recruits congratulated her.

"Good job, Alex!"

"Congratulations!"

"Alex, nice work!"

She thanked them in a rush, without stopping to look at anyone or anything. She sat down across from me.

"I'm glad you're okay," I said to her.

She gave me a small smile and said, "Thanks, Lina... by the way, Birkhoff told me to tell you to meet him in his office after lunch... you know which room that is."

I stopped eating. She meant where Percy killed the man. Then, someone from another table turned around and said, "I heard you did well out there." She turned to thank them with a genuine smile and then turned back towards her food.

I hissed, "What? Why? Does he want any-"

"I heard different," came Jaden's voice from behind me. I stopped talking and shoved part of my burrito in my mouth. She picked up her leg and swung it over the bench to sit down to my left. "I heard you choked, couldn't pull the trigger. At least that's what everybody else is sayin'."

"My gun jammed," Alex said defensively. "I'd be happy to demonstrate it for you sometime."

"Mm, how about right here?" Jaden said mockingly. I rolled my eyes.

"We could do that... or we can meet on the mat, down by the training level. Settle this in front of everyone who likes to talk."

"Calm down," I said. Alex gave me a look that said, "Butt out!"

"It's a date," Jaden said as she stood up. We watched her leave, in silence.

Suddenly, she stood up and said, "Gotta go. And... trust me, you should go see him," as she ran out the dining hall. She didn't need to repeat who "he" was. I didn't answer and instead stood up and walked the opposite way, to Birkhoff's office.

* * *

I was standing in Birkhoff's office... I didn't know why... but I was. And he was sitting on his computer, eating a burrito for lunch, looking at me with a bewildered expression on his face. He paused mid-bite and put down his burrito. He swallowed and washed it down with Red Bull before saying with venom in his voice, "What are you doing here?"

I rolled my eyes. "You called for me," I said, stating the obvious.

"Uh... No, I didn't," he said. I felt something in my heart twist at the tone of voice he was using.

"Fine, then I'll just go back to where I came from," I snapped. I turned and walked out the door.

Just as I stepped into the training area two minutes later, there was an explosion. The room shook and the lights flickered. Then, I heard one more explosion and suddenly, the elevator opened. Jaden did a double take before shouting, "Nikita!" The alarms went off.

Everyone stopped and turned to look. There she stood, at five foot six, looking as scary as the Devil himself. I felt my eyes go wide and suddenly, everything seemed to go by in slow motion. Recruits threw themselves at Nikita to fight her but she easily took them down, one by one. I wasn't stupid enough to try to stop her... Instead, I stood there and watched in amazement as she took a guard's machine gun. She aimed for Operations and shot at the bulletproof glass multiple times. The lights went off for a couple of beats before they flickered back on and was surprised to see Nikita gone. She moved fast, I noticed.

Everyone (well, those she hadn't knocked out) stood there, with their mouths wide open, confused. Wow, I thought. That is how I wanted to be... like Nikita.

* * *

I was in my room, staring at the wall. I had found out the news and it killed me. Thom couldn't be dead. He just couldn't. I mean... it was _Thom_.

I looked over at the desk in my room and eyed the paper bag that held the last two potato chip bags left. As dumb as it was, I took the paper bag, folded it, and put it between the mattress. It was my only memory of him, even if it was a stupid thing to think. He, in the short time I'd known him, had become one of the few I cared about in Division. And to think that he was Nikita's mole. That was some serious bullshit. To be honest, in the back of my head, there was a small voice telling me that Alex was the mole. She knew about the vents, she broke into Percy's office, and suspiciously enough, she was the one who killed Thom. She could've planted the key card he supposedly used to steal the explosives. But why would she kill Thom of all people? Why not Jaden? But the other part of my brain was thinking about the fact that Alex had feelings for Thom. She would never do that to him. I wanted to cry but I wouldn't let myself. Instead, I got the sudden urge to leave my room. I opened the door and walked wherever my mind led me.

I found myself once again in Birkhoff's office. I stepped inside and closed the door gently. As I looked around at his room that seemed to scream his name, I felt the sudden need to be with him again. He was so into whatever it was that he was doing on his computer, that he didn't hear me enter. He was surrounded by at least five empty cans of Red Bull, and in his hand, the sixth. I looked at the screen. He was doing some type of encryption. "Hey," I said. He jumped back in surprise and looked over the side of his swivel chair. At the sight of me, his eyebrows furrowed. He started to say something but I cut him off to softly admit, "I kind of just wanna be here."

He seemed to be okay with that. He motioned to a seat and I sat down quietly next to him. Hesitantly, he put his arm around me. I leaned my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes. His scent was so strong in his office and it made my stomach flutter, as if I had butterflies inside of me. I reached for his hand to hold. Compared to my small one, it was big and warm and a bit calloused, but I liked the feeling of it. I gave his hands a small squeeze that he returned promptly. He pressed a small kiss on the top of my head and leaned his head on top of mine. For how long we were there, I don't know. We could've been there for an hour or a minute, I had no clue. All I knew for sure was that it felt so right and I wasn't going to give up on the only good thing I had in my life.

* * *

**A bit on the short side, I know, but I updated. I really tried to write this one well but I'm not sure if it came out so great. Please let me know what you thought. Also, Alex told Paulina to go to Birkhoff's because she was going to blow up the dining hall. If you rewatch the episode, you'll see... and because Paulina is Alex's friend, she had to lure her out of there. I hope you liked this chapter. :) :)  
**


	12. Points of View

**Hey everyone! This is chapter 12! I decided to try alternating POVs in this chapter to see if it could work. Please let me know if you like only Lina's POV or like I did it today. Don't forget to review! This is the longest chapter yet! :o And there's LOTS of Birkhoff here! ;) Also, there's a small reference to X-Men because Aaron Stanford was in the movies (not the first one).  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nikita.  
**

* * *

Chapter 12: Points of View

The next few days, I spent most of my time training and practicing in the computer lab. I bumped into Birkhoff a lot in there, and something in my head told me it was intentional on his part. At least he didn't seem so hostile anymore, not since the day I went over to his office and sat there with him. I could still remember every single detail of that moment and it was something I wanted to remember always. Especially if I succeeded at getting out of here and I never saw him again.

Lately, there had been a little trickle of doubt in my head that kept telling me that maybe I would fail and be cancelled. I thought it was just that part of my brain looking for excuses to stay, the part of my brain that was hoping I'd stay because of Birkhoff. I favored that part but I just didn't want to admit it.

That morning I'd woken up to the nightmare that I'd thought had gone away for good. It was only about four in the morning but I got up anyway and tried to shower, hoping the warm water would calm me down. But when you're alone with your thoughts as your only distraction, you can't help but think of things you don't want to remember. I tried to count to one hundred in Russian, then backwards in French, then back again in Spanish but I was still brought back to that night.

_I had the feeling of being watched... I was standing in the middle of the run down street block, waiting for one of Simon's friends to show up with more bags of drugs to sell. Instead, he wasn't showing up and I was stuck there, waiting like an idiot. Sometimes it bothered me how lightly Simon took this whole drug dealing business…he was gonna get us caught eventually. That jerk-_

_A sound came from behind me…the sound of someone trying to be sneaky…I slowly turned and met the eyes of a man. I jumped back but he quickly grabbed my arm and covered my mouth with his hand…I tried to scream but I couldn't. He dragged me off into an dark alley and__ started to punch me in the face repeatedly._

_"Thought you could get rid of me, Paulina?" he hissed in my ear. "Think you can run into Simon's arms and be safe from me?" He stepped back to kick me in the stomach. I cried out in pain and fell on the dirty cobblestones._

_"St.. Stop... Pl-please, Jo-" I tried to suck in a breath. "-Jordan. Stop!"_

_"What's that?" he sneered before kicking me in the face. I let out a gurgling cough and blood started coming out of my mouth. I could not breathe and my face-my body- was in so much pain- I thought I was going to die. I started to sob. "Useless bitch," he said as he pinned me down and started to unbuckle his belt.  
_

Thankfully, a knock on the bathroom door snapped me out of my trip down memory lane. "Lina?" I realized I'd been sobbing and stopped immediately. "Lina are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I called out in a choked voice. I turned off the shower and wrapped myself in a towel. I swung open the door and saw Birkhoff standing there, in his usual slacker attire with bags under his eyes_._

"I've been up all night... so I heard you," he murmured. I tried to hold back the sob that was threatening to escape my lips. Why did he always have to be the one who saw me at my most vulnerable moments? I tried to answer but instead, a small cry came out. He gently lifted my chin up with his hand and murmured, "Get dressed... you can stay with me tonight."

I bit my lip to keep from crying and nodded. I tried to give him a smile and closed the door to get dressed. I put on my gray cotton shorts and white tank top and quickly tried to dry my hair with a towel. I looked at myself in the mirror and commanded myself to stop crying. I took slow breaths and finally decided I was composed enough to leave.

I opened the door once again and was disappointed to see the hall empty. I started to turn to go back to my room when I heard steps behind me. I turned and saw Birkhoff running towards me. "I went to tell the others I was going to bed," he said.

"I thought you left."

He draped his arm around my shoulders as he led me towards his room. "Of course not," he simply said.

We walked in silence for a few minutes until we reached a gray door. He let go of me to turn the knob and open the door. He held the door open and motioned at me to go in. I stepped inside as he closed the door behind him. I heard a click behind me and I turned. He was locking the door. "In case someone comes," he explained. I wished us recruits got locks on our doors.

"Okay," I said as I took a look around. The room was messy, but not dirty. It was twice as big as mine. Towards the right of the door, there was a twin-size bed with white unmade sheets. On the bed was a dark red T-shirt splayed over a bunch of comic books. Beside his bed was a bedside table and a wardrobe with clothes on the floor in front of it. Across the room, on the opposite side of the wardrobe, was a full-length mirror. To the left of the mirror was a small bookcase which held a few books, and on the top shelf, about ten different action figures were standing there, in perfect condition. Across the door was a desk littered with papers and under all of them, you could see the corner of a laptop poking out. There was a small TV on a table to the right of the desk. Clothes were all over the room and empty bags of chips and Twizzlers and other candy were piled on top of each other in a wastebasket by his bed. His room was very... Birkhoffy. But my favorite part was that it smelled strongly of him. More than his office did. "Your room is very homey," I said, feeling welcome.

"Thanks, Lina," he said as he stood awkwardly in the middle of the room.

"It's very... you," I added as I sat on the swivel chair in front of the desk and spun around. He gave me a grin and turned to put his comics back in the bookcase and threw the shirt inside the wardrobe, without bothering to hang it up. I stood up and went to his wardrobe and picked up the shirt he threw in. Then, I looked for a hanger to hang up the shirt. I found one in between two jackets. I took the hanger and quickly hung up his shirt.

"You didn't have to do that," he said with a small smile. I turned and was shocked for a second. He had taken his pants off and was wearing only his boxers and a white sleeveless shirt. He was running his hand through his hair.

"I know," I said. He took the sheets and made the bed. Then, he proceeded to pull back the sheets. I laughed. "Why did you make the bed if you were going to unmake it?" I asked curiously.

"I don't know, it's a thing I have... I can't sleep on a bed if it wasn't made beforehand." He looked at me for a second and added, "That sounded less weird in my head."

"It doesn't," I said. "Sound weird, I mean." I looked at the small bed and turned to him. "Will we fit?"

"We will if we're close," he said shyly. I looked at his face closer and saw he was blushing slightly. Instead of responding, I took his hand and pulled him with me. We got into the bed, and as he predicted, we had to squeeze in very close together in order to fit... not that I minded. He was laying on the side of the wall, staring at the ceiling. I cuddled closer to him and felt him shift so he was facing me too. "About earlier... do you want to talk about it?" he asked. My sudden happy mood was deflated. I'd been able to forget for a little while about what happened but now it was all back. I felt my eyes stinging and I tried to not cry again. I was Paulina West, man. We Wests do not cry.

I shook my head. "Not now," I whispered.

He nodded and put his hand on my cheek. "Okay."

I closed my eyes and tried to just enjoy this little rare moment I had with Birkhoff. I felt his hand leave my face and I opened my eyes at the sudden loss of contact. He was leaning over me, trying to turn off the lamp. Finally, I heard the click of the lamp and felt the shift of his weight again as he leaned back into the bed. We laid facing each other in the darkness for a few minutes. I suddenly felt his hand on my waist. I sucked in a breath.

"What do you miss the most?" he asked. I stared at him, or at least in his direction because it was dark, and tried to think of an answer. "For me it's not having to be on a computer all day."

"I don't miss much," I said. "I hate Division... but it's still better than what I left behind... but if I had to pick something, it would have to be tiramisu." I left it at that.

"Tiramisu?" he asked as his breath gently fluttered my face.

"It's this cake with powdered coffee on top... and it's so good," I said. I heard him let out a chuckle. "I love food."

"Me too," he said. And those were the last words we said to each other before I fell asleep.

* * *

Birkhoff was laying down on his twin-size bed with a girl in his arms. Wow, he thought. In his whole life, he never would have thought he'd have feelings for someone who returned them, and much less, have her in his bed. Since the day that he kissed Paulina he'd been thinking a lot of how his life would be if he wasn't in Division, and in every scenario, Paulina was always there. He hadn't even spoken to the girls from Amsterdam since the day he met her. And _that_ was saying something. This girl had him whipped and she didn't even know it. She could tell him to strip and run around the recruits' training area and he'd do it. Okay, not really, but you get the picture. And to make it worse, he hadn't even been as sarcastic or snarky as he usually was. At one point Michael had said to him, "Birkhoff, are you okay? You're not acting like yourself." He had just sat there not knowing what to say... and dude, he was Birkhoff, he _always _knew what to say.

He looked at Paulina, who was sleeping by now, and put his arms around her. Unconsciously, she snuggled in closer and relaxed. He leaned into her, resting his chin on top of her head. Man, he had never thought he'd ever be spooning with a girl in his life. He was tired but couldn't sleep due to the unholy amounts of Red Bull that he had that day so instead he just let himself listen to the sound of her breathing letting it lull him to sleep.

He woke up to the sound of someone humming. He cracked one eye open and saw Lina standing in front of the mirror fixing her hair (which was a bit messed up due to sleeping) and pinning up the sides with bobby pins to keep it out of her face. She was already dressed, ready for training. He figured she had left the room to get clothes while he was still sleeping. "What time is it?" he asked groggily.

"It's ten a.m.," she replied. "My first class today is at ten thirty... so I guess that means I have to go to breakfast." She gave him a small smile and added, "But I'll see you later, right?"

He was sitting up on the bed now, trying to clear his head. He nodded. "Yeah, I'm going out later but I should be back before six..." He started to think about what he had to do before he was allowed to leave and remembered something. "Hey, aren't you friends with Alex?"

This perked her curiosity. "Yes, why?"

"Nothing, I'm just installing her agent tracker today. She's an agent now," he said.

"I know," she said, looking down. "I'll see you later." She walked up to Birkhoff and gave him a small peck on the cheek. He turned his head and caught her lips with his and kissed her for what felt to him like hours. She eventually pulled back and shakily whispered, "Bye." She left the room with a small smile on her lips.

Birkhoff threw himself back on his bed that still smelled like Paulina, kind of like like fruit punch and strawberry. Whatever perfume she used, he loved it. He inhaled deeply for a second before getting up again to get dressed. He picked out a black T-shirt and threw on a dark red and gray plaid shirt, a grey hoodie over it and a thin black jacket. He then proceeded to put on dark gray jeans and fix his hair in front of the mirror. He ran his fingers through his hair a few times and went to brush his teeth before he went to the medical room to start the procedure with Alex.

* * *

"Mornin' sunshine," he said to Alex as she started to wake up. He was on the computer setting up her new agent tracker. And her kill chip. Percy hadn't told him anything about the kill chips in the recruits until that morning when he came in and told him to install it. He wanted to say no but he knew he couldn't disobey. Instead, he did as he was told, like always. Like good little Birkhoff, he thought sarcastically.

Outside the medical office, Percy and Michael were talking but Birkhoff couldn't hear anything. Instead, he kept working on the computer, typing in codes and pressing buttons. "Welcome to the big leagues, kid," he said as he finished the last part of installing the tracker. "Your new agent tracker has just gone live." He turned to look at her.

"Awesome," she said dryly as she rubbed the back of her neck.

"Some do's and don'ts," he said as he started to pack up his laptop. "Do feel secure while on missions and exotic locales. Unlike your recruit tracker, this baby's signal is picked up by satellite. We can find you anywhere in the world. Don't," he said, pausing to give her a meaningful look, "try to take it out. That'll trigger and instant alert... Bad times. Read me?"

"Loud and clear," she replied.

He turned and left the room. It had taken a few hours to do all of that and he was dying for fresh air. He looked at his watch and saw that it was three o'clock. He took his card and scanned it in order to get past all the doors that led out of Division. He passed through all the doors, pressed all the passwords to get out and finally, he was out. He took a deep breath and looked up at the sky. He rarely got out of Division, and when he did, he made sure to enjoy every moment of it. He went to the lot where they kept all their cars and picked out the one he always used. He drove out into the city and parked it out by a park. He always parked a few blocks back, in the only empty space. He walked in the direction of the comic book store he always went to, _RFT Comics._

As soon as he got there, he picked up a few copies of X-Men. As he started to leave the store, a black van slowed down and three masked men came at him. He instantly dropped everything and elbowed one in the face and punched another, but they eventually overpowered him. They put a black bag over his head and dragged him into a van. They drove for a few minutes before the van stopped and they dragged him into another car. "You guys are making a huge mistake," he said as they shoved him inside. They didn't respond.

Eventually, they came to a stop and they dragged him outside. They pulled off the bag and took him into a building. Where the hell am I? he thought. Then, that guy, Ryan Fletcher came out of nowhere. "Hey! Set him up in there," he said, pointing to a door. They sat him down in a large conference room decorated with two American flags. He sat there, knowing already he was in the CIA, and leaned his chin on his hand and started to pick at his nails. He knew Division would come get him.

He heard the door open and he looked up to see Ryan Fletcher step inside. He walked towards the opposite side of the table where Birkhoff was and threw a manila folder in his direction. "What do you know about a hacker, one by the name Shadowalker?" Birkhoff stayed silent. "Guy was famous in the nineties... he was brilliant... Security hacks... He was so good, he managed to pull off a cyber intrusion in the Pentagon back in '93."

"What's a cyber intrusion?" Birkhoff asked. "Sounds vaguely sexual."

Ryan Fletcher laughed. "Shadowalker was also the mastermind for some international e-crimes. I'm sure you're familiar with them... Here's the bottom line: the CIA has evidence linking you to the Shadowalker identity."

Birkhoff let out a chuckle. "A... that's impossible... because I'm not Shadowalker. And B, I'm dying of thirst. And as a part of my civil liberties, I demand an energy beverage," he said. "Whichever has the most taurine."

"You wanna get that to go?" Ryan asked mockingly. "You're headed to a Bangkok prison after we extradite you."

Birkhoff laughed. "Uh, mini Ethan Hunt, you need to worry about where you're headed, cause you have no idea who you're dealing with. And not only have I always wanted to say that... it's true."

Ryan let out a frustrated huff and left Birkhoff in the conference room as he stepped outside.

* * *

It was eight pm and I hadn't heard from Birkhoff. I was in the training area, sparring with Ingrid before I gave up and walked over to Michael who was standing at the end of the room.

"Hey, Michael, have you seen Birkhoff?"

He looked at me with exasperation on his face and said, "No, no one knows where he is... why?"

"He said he'd help me with some encryption at six pm today because I needed help. He just didn't show up," I said, lying effortlessly.

"I'll tell you when I see him," he said simply as he walked back in the direction of Operations. I walked back to spar with another recruit, Toby, and wondered what had happened to Birkhoff.

* * *

Back in the CIA, Nikita had shown up and threatened Birkhoff to put another transmitter in his tooth. As soon as she left, he was starting to eye the Blue-Ray. He walked over to the remote and started to hack it. "CIA. Trace this IP. come get me. NOW." he typed. He pressed send and acted like he just hadn't sent Division a message.

It took about half an hour before he heard the commotion outside. He sat up and ran to the door shouting, "Michael! I'm in here!" He started to pound on the door. Michael kicked the door in. "Nikita. She was here," he said.

"Where?" Michael demanded.

"On this floor."

"WHERE?" he boomed.

"SOMEWHERE ON THIS FLOOR!"

Michael ran out as Ryan said into a Bluetooth, "I need security on the fifth floor!" Michael pushed past Ryan who was telling him, "This is a classified area!"

Security guards stopped Michael and told him he needed to come with them.

"Dude, you have no idea how messy things are about to get," Birkhoff told Ryan. Ryan pushed him back inside the conference room. Through the walls, they could hear Michael and Nikita fighting the guards. Ryan stared at him with wide eyes. "Told you," he said.

* * *

I went over to the computer lab, hoping to get in some studying time. Instead, I saw Amanda leaving a very nervous Alex behind. I walked up to her and looked at the screen she was standing next to. "Installing Malware" it read. _What?_

"Why are you installing malware on the computer, Alex?" I asked. She jumped at the sound of my voice and yelled. She turned slowly, her eyes wide like saucers.

"Please don't tell _anyone_, Lina," she begged.

I eyed her. "Thom wasn't the mole, was he?" I asked accusingly.

She looked down and bit her lip. "No."

I took a deep breath. "So you murdered Thom to save yourself?" I asked angrily.

"No!" she practically shouted. "He found out I was the mole and he aimed the gun at me... I shot him by mistake. I was planning on running away instead of blaming him."

I nodded slowly, thinking whether or not to believe her. "I'll keep your secret," I said. "Just let me know if you ever get out."

She nodded and said, "Thank you, Lina. Trust me, his death affected me as much as it affected you."

"I guess you better get going before another recruit catches you."

She laughed halfheartedly and said, "I'll tell Nikita about you."

I gave her small grin and sat down on the computer to study.

* * *

"This is all a misunderstanding," Michael said as he sat down to Birkhoff's left. They were both handcuffed.

"You vandalized CIA property and assaulted officers of the agency... those seem like pretty straight-forward offenses to me," Ryan said. From behind him, the door was opened.

A woman stepped inside. "Un-cuff them," she ordered.

"Barbara, these men used force-"

"I've been apprised of all the facts, Ryan," she said. "You brought this man independent of my approval. And just because NPR wants to do a piece on you, doesn't mean you're above regulations. We'll continue this discussion back at Langley." In front of them, the officers started to un-cuff Michael and Birkhoff who passed Ryan with mocking grins.

* * *

I was on the computers when I heard Michael was back. I ran out of the computer lab and into the training area and sure enough, Birkhoff was trailing behind him, looking exhausted. Percy was walking in front of Michael, leading them into Operations. I caught Birkhoff's eye and gave him a relieved look. He smiled back as he walked into Operations.

Relieved, I started to walk back before Toby asked me for a rematch. "Ready to lose again?" I asked jokingly. He gave me a grin and led me to the mat. As soon as we started to spar, the TVs overhead started to make static sounds. I stopped to watch and Toby punched me on the side. I groaned. "No fair," I hissed as Nikita's face appeared on the screen. By now, everyone was watching.

"By now, most of you know who I am," she was saying. "Once upon a time I was you. But now I'm fighting a war to destroy you. It's true you've had your victories... you killed my mole, you had me in your dungeon... but I got away and I'm never stopping. So if any of you recruits or agents are having any doubts, and you should, I'm always looking for another good soldier." Then, the TVs shut off and there was a deafening silence for a few seconds before everyone started to murmur amongst themselves.

I was one of the few who stared at the blank screen in amazement. This woman was who I wanted to be since the day I saw her. But now that I saw what she was capable of, I wanted more than ever to join her cause and get out of here.

Amanda stepped into the training area and called me over.

"Paulina, come with me." I complied and as soon as I was close enough she continued, "You are being activated for a mission. If you pass, you will become an agent. If you fail, the penalty is death."

This was it. I was graduating.

* * *

**This was officially the longest chapter I've ever written! Woohoo! So please, don't forget to show some love and review! :) What did you think?  
**


	13. Reed

**Hey everyone! This is chapter 13! Okay, so I have no clue about guns so... google magic! If any of you know about guns and I made an error... Please let me know, and I apologize.**

**This chapter is set during 1x13 "Coup De Grace". Well, kind of RIGHT after it... the day after :) Please review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nikita.**

* * *

Chapter 13: Reed

I was on a plane to California, where I was supposed to take out a man involved with a major drug trafficking group. At first, I couldn't even begin to figure out why Percy was dealing with drug traffickers, but Percy is Percy. All I was sure of were my orders; get into the gala that the target is scheduled to attend, seduce him, kill him. Easy peasy, I tried to tell myself, but I didn't believe it. I couldn't imagine myself taking someone's life away, no matter how evil they were, despite what Amanda said. She said it was important to kill this man because he was starting to get too powerful and the cartel was allied with Division. They probably paid Percy to look the other way when they imported drugs in return for money.

I reached down towards the tray in front of me, in the private jet I was traveling in with another agent, and lifted my glass of soda to my lips. As I sipped, I studied the agent. Her name was Jasmine. She looked about thirty years old with dark hair, green eyes, and the coldest expression in the universe. I tried to not think that that could be me in a few years if I didn't get out. Birkhoff isn't like that, a voice in the back of my head said. And what it said was true. He was there for longer than a decade and he still seemed like his humanity was intact. He did act like a jerk sometimes but that was just his way of protecting himself. He got bossed around by Amanda, Percy and Michael, so in return, he was just like that to the recruits.

I put back down my drink and sighed. It was only my second mission, and I already knew I was going to hate these flights to and from missions. I reached for a magazine from the pile that they had for light reading. One magazine promised to teach you how to "GET THE MAN OF YOUR DREAMS!" while another seemed to advertise their 101 new (and improved!) ways to spruce up your sex life. I rolled my eyes as I threw them down. We were in _Division_, we couldn't get the man of our dreams or "spruce up" our sex life. Hell, we couldn't even _have_ a sex life. It was very dumb of them to keep these magazines in stock. Why would we read these if they had absolutely nothing to do with our lives?

"You know what to do when the target is down, recruit?" I tried to not roll my eyes at the word "recruit". It was annoying enough that the guards all referred to us as recruits and not by our names.

"Yes. Run to the back to the bathrooms and escape through the window."

"Good, you remembered," she said dismissively as she reached for the magazine I'd been holding. I watched as she flipped through it carelessly and raised her eyebrow at some of the things.

I took out the phone they gave me for this op out of my back pocket and let my thumb hover over the call button as soon as Michael's name was highlighted. I only had three contacts on this phone: Amanda, Michael, and Jasmine. Michael had made me look in his eyes and repeat what he was saying before handing the phone over to me. "Only for emergencies," I'd repeated. I wanted to call him for no reason, just out of boredom, but I knew I shouldn't. So instead, I just closed my eyes and tried to bring back all the good memories I've had since being recruited to keep me company.

* * *

Birkhoff had the day off and man, was he grateful. He never had any time for himself and when he did, he spent it working. He was sitting on a bench at a park, thinking. He was glad he didn't have to go back to Division until later and he was glad he didn't have to help with Operation Castle. He knew that Operation Castle would require a lot of work on his part and he just wasn't feeling up for it. He did, on the other hand, have to be back before Operation West- Paulina's op- started tomorrow night. Just thinking that this was it for her made him nervous. If she failed, she was cancelled, if she passed, she got a kill chip implanted in her head... And what was the worst part was that he knew he'd be the one who would have to put it in her. He tried to not think about it and instead tried to think about the awesome new shirt he'd just bought for himself.

He stood up and walked out of the park as she pulled out a bottle of water from his bag and took a swig. He made a left and walked up to the movie theater where the only kind of movies they showed were classics. He bought himself a large tub of popcorn with extra butter and a Red Bull and went into the theater to enjoy the last few hours that he had to himself.

* * *

After landing, we made our way to the hotel where the gala would be held. To be honest, I had no clue what it was for. Probably just some big social meeting where everyone talked about business. I stepped into the room where we were staying and took a moment to appreciate it. It was very modern. The room was painted a nice olive color and the furniture matched with its different shades of brown and beige. I fell back on one of the beds and let out a groan. I was so tired and would probably be a little jet lagged by the time I got back to Division... if I did at all.

"Get up, recruit. You have to get everything ready for tomorrow night before you decided to lie around."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay." Grudgingly, I got up and went to my suitcase. I picked it up and threw it on the bed. I snapped it open and eyed the things. I only had a few things; just a few changes of clothes and makeup. Jasmine had the suitcase with the weapons I'd use for this mission. She was laying back on her bed with her laptop on her lap, probably reviewing the file. The file stated the obvious: I had to murder thirty-five year old Dane Reed with a Smith & Wesson .99mm semi-automatic pistol. It was going to be hidden under the black cocktail dress I'd wear.

I took out the beautiful cocktail dress that Amanda picked out for me and spread it out on the bed and kept on unpacking. We were going to leave tomorrow night, after the op was completed so I'd have to sleep here tonight. I didn't mind, really. Hotel beds were more comfortable than the beds in our rooms.

When I was done taking everything out, I changed into an oversize T-shirt and went to sit on the window seat. I looked out and onto the streets and watched the people passing on the sidewalk, under my window, two floors down. I was trying to not think about me actually murdering someone for the first time but I knew I had to do it, but I was afraid. Maybe Nikita would mess with my mission and save me. But I wasn't sure if Alex was going to tell Nikita. She'd been too involved practicing for Operation Castle.

I heard a knock at the door. My head snapped up and I looked over at Jasmine. She stood up and opened the door. I held my breath, expecting the worst and...

"Room service!" I let out a breath and looked over at Jasmine.

"I ordered us coffee while you sat there," she said. Well, at least she didn't call me recruit. Progress.

I went to the tray that was now set on a coffee table and reached for a cup. I poured some milk into my coffee and two sugar cubes. As I stirred, I wondered what Birkhoff was doing right this second.

* * *

I was lounging by the pool in a red bikini and black sunglasses. It was part of the mission. Dane Reed was known to pass through pools and pick up women. He was a well-known womanizer and what better way to catch him than through his own favorite pasttime?

As I sipped my virgin pina colada, hoping it would cool me down, I finally saw him. He was a tall man, quite attractive really, with big dark eyes and a big mop of floppy hair. I watched as his bodyguards started to trail behind him, trying to seem like guests, but I knew better. They were scoping out the place, and that was a dead giveaway.

A flock of girls started to giggle a little louder and look over their shoulders at Dane Reed but he didn't seem to pay any attention to them. Instead, he, in his swim trucks, dove into the pool and swam across. When he got to the end, he rested his arms on the side of the pool and took a look around. It seemed like every woman, but me, was staring at him. I resisted the urge to look back as he looked at me curiously. I mean, I was watching him, but from my sunglasses. It helped that the way my head was turned made it seem like I wasn't looking at him.

He pulled himself up and started to walk forward, towards me. I could feel the death looks I was getting from the other women but ignored them as I put the straw from my drink back in my mouth and took a sip.

"What is a lovely lady like you doing here by herself?" he asked, his voice like honey. Now I knew why he was a womanizer. He sure had a way with words, but I couldn't let myself sway, like Amanda's lessons taught me.

"Oh you know, sunbathing. Perfect weather," I murmured a bit dismissively and a bit uniterested. He seemed a bit surprised that I hadn't turned into a blushing, babbling baboon. He just stood there, completely surprised. He didn't have anything to say to follow up, probably because his lines usually worked on the first try. "Would you mind moving over, darling? You're blocking the sun," I said as I pulled my shades on top of my head.

"Ah, yes... no prob," he said as he took the seat next to mine. I reached over for some suntan oil and started to apply it to my legs and arms. I watched him from the corner of my eye. He was watching me, completely intrigued. He must be used to easy girls. "Do you need help putting it on your back?" he asked, falling back into his normal self.

"Yes, thank you," I replied.

"You're welcome miss..." he trailed off.

Damn, he was good. "Sophia," I said. "Sophia Hayes."

"Dane Reed."

"Nice to meet you, Dane Reed," I replied as I reached to shake his hand.

"The pleasure is mine," he said meaningfully, an intense look in his eye.

"Score!" Jasmine mouthed at me from across the pool. I winked back.

* * *

Birkhoff was in Operations with Amanda and Michael, watching Paulina in Operation West. She was lounging by the pool, talking to the target, as he attempted to flirt with her. Inside, it actually bothered him to see this Dane Reed person put suntan oil on her back. He noticed how his hands seemed to linger on her waist and he had to look away.

"Is something the matter, Birkhoff?" Amanda asked.

"What?" he felt a big lump in his throat. "No! Of course not," he replied a bit too quickly. "It's just that wow, you really taught Lin- Paulina well," he said, and prayed that Amanda hadn't heard him call Paulina by her nickname.

"I know," she replied, satisfied with herself.

"This op seems to be going very well," Percy said, finally breaking the silence. "She's shown a lot of promise."

"Yes," Michael agreed. "She's had potential since I recruited her."

* * *

I was back in my room, my hands shaking as I stood in front of the mirror. This was it, I thought. I applied waterproof eyeliner and mascara, because I was sure I'd cry at some point tonight. I straightened my wild hair and then styled it into big, swirly waves. I stared at the mirror and tried to not see myself as the one who'd take out the target. _Sophia Hayes_ was going to take out the target, I thought to myself. _Sophia Hayes_ was the one who was about to go downstairs into the ballroom and commit a murder.

A soft knocking came from the door. "Paulina? You alright in there?" Jasmine had warmed up a bit towards me, so at least I didn't feel completely alone.

"Yeah, almost done," I said, putting on a fake cheery tone. I opened the door and saw her standing in her emerald green dress and black high heels. As soon as I met her eyes, I blurted out, "I don't think I can do it."

"Yes you can," she said. "You wanna know why?" I stared and shook my head. "Because it's either kill him, or be killed. So if you want to live and get to see next week, you need to take this .99mm semi-automatic, and shoot Dane Reed."

That was the first time I'd ever heard the words "shoot Dane Reed" together and it was horrible. I felt a constricting feeling in my chest and the beginning of stinging in my eyes. I turned around and walked out of the room, Jasmine following close behind me, and tried to ignore the coldness of the pistol that was rubbing against my right thigh.

* * *

Where no one could see, on the roof of the hotel, was the silhouette of a thin woman with long, dark hair. No one knew that they were being watched by her. She was looking for a Division recruit, the one Alex told her wanted to join them. She couldn't spot her so instead, she just stayed crouched, waiting for her. She would complete her mission for her; Dane Reed was definitely worth taking out. Not only did he smuggle drugs, but he was involved in human trafficking and he had to die if she wanted to help out the others who were taken against their will.

Nikita couldn't believe Percy would ever get herself involved with human traffickers. This was very low, even for him.

* * *

I stepped into the ballroom and immediately went for a glass of champagne. Jasmine gave me a look that seemed to say, put it down. I ignored her and quickly finished the whole glass. I put it on a table and walked away from Jasmine. I was supposed to be on my own now.

"Have you located the target?" came Michael's voice from the Bluetooth on my ear. I was glad my hair was down, completely obscuring the Bluetooth.

"Not yet," I said. "I don't think he's here yet." I walked towards a couple who were telling a small group of people a story and pretended to listen as I looked around for Dane. Finally, after fifteen minutes of listening to the Mr. and Mrs. Johnson talk about their good old days, I spotted him. "Excuse me," I mumbled as I walked away and pretended to not notice him. "Target located," I said as I pressed a button on my Bluetooth.

"Speak to him," Michael commanded.

"Sophia!"

I turned and saw Dane greeting me with a smile on his face. "Dane Reed," I said warmly. "We met earlier today."

"Yes," he said as he offered his arm to me. I took it with a small smile and let him lead me away from the rest of the crowd. "I've been thinking a lot about you," he added once we were out of earshot.

I chuckled. "But we've just met," I said with fake coyness.

"I know," he said. "But you're just so... wow." He seemed out of words. "You're the first woman to not throw herself at me, and I love that about you."

"Or you just want a challenge," I teased.

"No!" he said. "How about we walk some more?"

I nodded and silently let him lead me away. It would be easier that way.

As soon as we were far enough, and outside, behind a fountain, Dane Reed threw himself on top of me. He started to kiss me on the mouth a bit too forcefully. I didn't sign up for this, I thought angrily as I pushed him away.

"What the hell?" I shrieked.

He looked at me and smirked. "I think you're perfect," he said.

"Okay and?" I said.

"I'm sure you'll cost a lot to bed," he said. Confusion went through me and suddenly, he had me pinned under him, unbuckling his pants. At the familiarity of the situation, I froze up. It was like Jordan, all over again. "I always get the girls first," he growled. "I'm sure you'll bring in a lot of money... you're beautiful." As he lifted the hem of my dress, he saw the pistol. He pulled it off and eyed it. "What the hell?" I finally unfroze and realized what was happening. I kicked him in the face and as he fell back, punched him in the face. He reached for the pistol and held it up, at my face. "What are you gonna do now, doll?"

As soon as those words came out of his mouth, a shot rang out and I was sure I was going to die. But I didn't feel anything and instead, heard a groan of pain. I opened my eyes and saw Dane Reed, standing with a hole through his heart. He slumped over and as he fell over, I saw someone standing there holding up a pistol in the air. I noticed the pistol was identical to mine.

"Nikita?" I asked incredulously.

"Hello there, Paulina. Alex has told me a lot about you."

* * *

I was standing in Percy's office after coming back from the mission. "Congratulations, Paulina," he said. "You are now an agent."

* * *

**I hope you guys liked that! The start of Lina with Niki and Alex! Don't forget to review! :)**


	14. Taste of Freedom

**Hey everyone! There's only a slight amount of Birkhoff in this one but don't worry, I have a lot of him planned! Don't forget to review! And thanks to everyone who reviewed! This is set in-between episodes. :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nikita.**

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Chapter 14: Taste of Freedom

Birkhoff was sitting in front of the computer in the medical room, setting up Paulina's agent tracker and kill chip. He knew that if he didn't follow Percy's instructions for the new system, he'd get in tons of trouble. And not only that, he'd ask why he refused to implant a kill chip in Paulina. So instead he sat at the desk, following Percy's instructions as he waited for Paulina to wake up.

* * *

A small groan from behind Birkhoff interrupted his random online browsing. He turned his head and saw Paulina sitting up, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Am I supposed to feel this crappy?" she asked him.

"Uh. Yeah." Birkhoff tried not to be obvious about having done anything wrong, especially now that Michael had just stepped into the room to speak to Paulina. She went back to rubbing the back of her neck. "Now, I have to go through this with you..." He waited until he had her full attention before continuing, "Don't pick at it. Don't try to take anything out; it'll trigger an alert. Comprende?"

"Si," Paulina said, playing along.

"Oh, and your tracker... It's picked up via satellite. We can find you anywhere in the world," Birkhoff said, noticing how Paulina seemed a bit bothered by this. "Don't worry... as long as you don't run off to the Himalayas without telling anyone, you're fine." He stood up and pulled his laptop bag along with him as he left through the door.

* * *

I was standing in front of a tall door, putting in the key to the lock, with Michael behind me. I was ready to burst from excitement. Freedom! My own apartment, my own car, my own everything.

"Welcome home, Paulina," Michael said with an amused expression at my excitement as I swung the door of apartment 4B open. I took a big breath and walked inside. Right in front of the door was a spacious living room with a brown sectional couch in the left hand corner of the living room. In front of it was a dark coffee table with flowers in a vase on top. The entire living room floor was carpeted; I'd have to watch out to not get it dirty. Across from the front door was a brown stationary chair and an ottoman in the same color right in front of it. Across the room was a TV stand with two small glass doors at the bottom. From where I was, I could see the inside filled with DVDs to its full capacity. On top was a small TV with a DVD player.

The room was separated from the kitchen by a counter that ran from the left wall to just a few feet past the sectional couch, where the doorway to the kitchen was. I pushed the kitchen door open and stepped inside. Three tall white chairs were placed in front of the counter. The kitchen appliances were all placed against the three other walls. I walked back out and went into the only room which was on the same wall of the TV, to it's left. I walked inside and was astonished by everything. There was a queen-size bed in the middle of the room against the wall. The metal bed frame was beautiful. It was designed in swirly patterns and flowers. The bedspread was plain white and it stood out against the dark walls and carpeting. The room had big windows on two walls and drapes hung off the side of each. On the third wall were two large doors which I giddily opened. There were different outfits hanging in the small walk-in closet and one red dress caught my attention. I touched it in awe and looked up. There were different bags hanging from hooks and on the bottom was a shelf, full of shoes, both on top of it and under it. I closed the doors and headed into the bathroom which was to the left of that. I peeked inside and got a glimpse of a bathtub and a shower with glass doors on the opposite side.

I walked out and met Michael who was standing at the doorway. "And your cover is..."

"Paulina Davis, physical therapist."

"Good, now, keep your phone near you at all times, and do whatever you like, as long as you don't compromise your cover."

I nodded. He smiled and left the apartment. I held my phone in front of me and sent Alex a text message.

_Just moved into my new apartment! :)_

No less than two minutes passed before my phone made a high-pitched beep. I flipped it open.

_Awesome! :D Can you come over?_

At the bottom she typed her address which I promptly looked up and was glad to see it was about ten minutes away by car. I took one good look around and walked to the parking lot where Michael parked my car. In a few minutes I was standing in front of her apartment, knocking on the door.

"Lina!" Alex yelled as she pulled me into a hug. "How've you been?"

"Great, thanks," I said as I stepped inside her cozy apartment. She motioned at me to take a seat at her kitchen table as she sat across from me.

"I need to talk to you," she said. Her tone made me pay attention and look at her. She was serious.

"Is it about..." _Nikita_. Her name hung in the air, unspoken. But I knew she knew what I was asking.

"Yeah," she said. She then proceeded to look around, as if looking for any bugs that might've been planted into her home before deciding it wasn't safe to speak. "We should go shopping."

* * *

Alex and I were standing in front of a set of lamps at a home decor store at the mall when Nikita, in sunglasses and a hooded sweater came in and bumped into Alex. She looked up and waited a second before going in the same direction as her, pretending to walk toward the pillowcases. I trailed behind them, running my hand over a few fluffy pillows on our way. Eventually, we stopped in between the bathroom aisle and the towel aisle. I noticed that no cameras where in our corner which was probably a good thing.

"She got her agent tracker today," Alex said breaking the silence.

"I'm going to have to find a way to get around it," Nikita said. "Can I see it?"

I nodded and pushed my hair out of the back of my neck. "It hurts a bit but Birkhoff gave me something to put on it so it doesn't hurt as much," I said.

"Birkhoff, eh?" Nikita said, amused. My head snapped up to look at Alex who was avoiding my gaze, looking as guilty as ever. "You think you can find a way to get to his computer to disarm your agent tracker? Since you know him better than Alex?"

I turned to look at Nikita who had a small smile on her face and a slight teasing look in her eye. I couldn't help but smile back. "Maybe."

"Do we have to pull off another fake arrest like last time?" Alex asked Nikita. I blinked in surprise. When had _that_ happened?

"Not if Paulina has Birkhoff's trust..."

"I have an idea," Alex piped in. We both turned to her as she continued. "Lina here can get her _lover_," she said, teasingly, "to come over, and since he always needs to have his laptop no more than twenty-five feet from him, he'll have to bring it." She turned to me and said, "Then, you can... drug him or something." I tried to imagine it but I wasn't sure I could trick Birkhoff into knocking out. "And while he's passed out, you, Nikita," she said, turning to her, "come in and do whatever you have to do."

I stared at her, mouth gaping. "You want me to drug him?" I asked incredulously.

"Well, it's the only idea we've got," Nikita said. "Unless you'd rather have me kidnap him and knock him out myself, the good old-fashioned way."

I sighed. Do I want my sort-of boyfriend to be innocently drugged or awake and punched? "Fine," I said. "But only because I don't want Nikita to punch him."

* * *

**Hope you liked! Please review! :D**


	15. Reunions, Reunions

**Hey everyone! I want to thank everyone who reviewed! I hope you enjoy this chapter as much I enjoyed writing it! Don't forget to keep on reviewing!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nikita.**

* * *

Chapter 15: Reunions, Reunions

I was holding my phone of the week, the one I used to communicate with Alex and Nikita, when the knock I was anticipating came from the other side of the apartment. "Coming!" I called out as I stuck the phone in an empty milk carton and stuffed it into the fridge. I ran barefoot through the kitchen door, past the carpeted floors, unlocked the door, and swung it open. Birkhoff was standing there, looking a bit nervous. Well so was I. I mean, we were about to be completely alone, except for the part where I drugged him. And I couldn't believe myself. I was about to spend time with my sort of boyfriend for the first time without being nervous about someone catching us, and there I was... waiting to pass him a spiked glass of wine.

Yesterday, Nikita handed me a little vial with a liquid at the home decor store after returning from messing with a Division op. "Tasteless, odorless," Nikita told me as she handed it to me. "Won't cause any damage."

"Hey, Lina," Birkhoff said. He was standing very still, a bit nervous but starting to look a bit calmer.

I leaned on the door and said, "Are you gonna come in?"

"Uh, yeah," he said. He gave me a small smile and came in. I followed him and closed the door as he stepped inside. "Michael got you a nice place," he observed.

"I love it." I noticed him standing awkwardly and then I added, "Sit down if you want."

He nodded and sat down on the side of the sectional facing the door "How are you? I haven't gotten to talk to you since," he paused, "the tracker."

"I know," I said as I sat down next to him. "It still kinda hurts."

"Really? It's not supposed to by now..." I pulled my hair to the side and showed him. "You haven't been picking at it, have you?" My silence said I had. "If you get an infection and die, don't tell me I didn't say so."

"If I'm dead, I can't say anything," I said jokingly.

"How about you stay alive, instead?" he joked.

"That's the plan," I said. I was glad he was more relaxed now. "Uh, you want something to drink?"

"Sure, Lina," he called out as I stood up and walked to the kitchen.

Bending in front of the fridge, I said as I looked at the choices, "I've got... water, orange juice, cranberry juice, milk, and oh? What's this? A Red Bull?" I said the last bit in a teasing tone. I reached for the Red Bull, grabbed the cranberry juice and a mug, and walked out. I set the Red Bull on the coffee table in front of him and then poured myself cranberry juice.

"I didn't say what I wanted," he teased.

"You didn't have to. Your office looks like a Red Bull advertisement," I said as I leaned back with my legs under me, on the couch.

He laughed outright. "Yeah, I know... And thanks!" He opened it and took a long drink. He leaned back and looked at me, in silence. "I'm glad I can actually talk to you more," he finally said.

"Me too." At that, he smiled and hesitantly put his arm around me. I encouraged him by leaning a bit into him. We finished our drinks and spent the next two hours talking about the randomest things ever.

* * *

"Favorite movie?"

"Definitely Dawn of the Dead. 1978 one, of course."

"That was a good one. But my favorite is Hercules."

"_Hercules_?" he said with a snort.

I just shrugged.

* * *

"Your first name is _Seymour_? You kinda look like... an Eugene. But I get why you like to be called Birkhoff."

"Shut up. My parents hated me."

* * *

"Jordan was the obsessive boyfriend who introduced you to Simon?"

"Yeah, bastard. Actually, bastards, both of them."

* * *

"...And when I was fourteen, I hacked a website for the first time. My big brother was so proud. He taught me everything I know."

My mouth was opened in surprise. "When, _I_ was fourteen, I was going through my goth phase."

* * *

After a good while of sharing and caring, I stood up and walked into the kitchen. I grabbed a bottle of wine and two glasses. I poured one for me and one for him. From my bra, I pulled out the vial and emptied it into his glass. I walked back out and tried to ignore the guilt that was threatening to show on my face.

"Wine," he said, "cool." Wordlessly, I handed him the spiked glass and took a sip of mine. I watched him drink his and waited for it to work. After a few minutes, his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed. I knew nothing was wrong with him but I still checked for a pulse. Reassuringly, it was still there. A bit faint but even. I took his shoes off and tried to drag him into a more comfortable position, but his right leg kept falling off the couch.

Exasperated, I left it there and went to collect the phone from the milk carton. I speed-dialed Nikita. She picked up after one ring. "He's asleep?"

"Yeah, hurry!"

"I'm running up the stairs as we speak."

I clicked off the phone and listened hard for the soft knock on the door. I quietly swung the door open and let Nikita in.

"Laptop, laptop," she murmured as she looked around and found it, not more than two feet from his stray leg. She turned it on and typed in his password.

"How did you know his password?"

"I tricked it out of him. He doesn't even know I know it."

She went through the agents' trackers and saw what she was doing. I wasn't as good as her yet but I had improved. I knew a bit of what she was doing, even if I wasn't at Birkhoff level just yet. I stood up and said, "You want something to drink?"

"A glass of water, please."

I nodded and served her a glass. "Here."

"Thanks," she said as she drunk it in half the time it took me to pour it. "I was thirsty," she explained.

She worked on Birkhoff's computer for about thirty more minutes and saw confusion on her face. "Is something wrong?" I asked.

"No, it's just that... your tracker... Birkhoff already did what _I_ was going to do. He must really like you to break one of Percy's rules and mess with your tracker," she said.

"Oh my God, and here I am, _spiking his drink_!" I said, disgusted at myself.

"You did it to make sure you're not caught and killed," she said. I stared down and tried to ignore the guilty feeling that was coming back, stronger than before.

"_Nikita?_"

"What?" Nikita asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You said my name."

"I didn't say anything," I said.

An instant later, we realized who had spoken. Crap.

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**Hahaha, hope you liked how this chapter ended. xD Review! :)**


	16. Revelations

**Hey everyone! I know this is majorly short but I just really didn't want to leave you guys hanging so here is the next scene that most of you wanted to see! I hope you like! :) Also thank you to Kathy and Virus, who are anonymous reviewers (so I couldn't PM you). I'm soooo happy you like the story! :)  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nikita.**

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Chapter 16: Revelations

"What the hell is going on?" I turned to look at Birkhoff who was sitting up. He looked at Nikita again and realized what she was doing. "What are you doing with my laptop? And why does my head hurt so much-?" Then his face changed, as if he were remembering something. "Did... How... Lina, did you _drug _me?"

I tried to look up and meet his angry gaze but couldn't. "I'm sorry," I whispered.

"I can't believe you!" he yelled. His eyes then fell on Nikita and he stood to snatch his laptop away from Nikita. But of course, she was too fast for him and jumped out of the way with it. "Give it back Nikita!"

"Birkhoff calm down!" I yelled.

"You be quiet!" he yelled back. Hurt, I stood up and walked behind Nikita and refused to look at Birkhoff.

"Listen," Nikita said, raising her voice. "I'm borrowing it for a bit. I'll give it back when I'm done."

"So you can hack it and have Percy think I'm the mole again? I don't think so!" he said as he tried to reach for his laptop. She moved it from his reach and tried to get him to calm down.

"Listen! I only wanted to disable the kill chip!"

Ignoring her, Birkhoff said, "...Is Paulina a mole?" Instead of responding, Nikita shook her head as I started to think about what Nikita said. What kill chip? What was she talking about?

"No, she's not," Nikita said. "Thom was the mole."

He looked at her as if she was stupid. "Then what the hell are you doing here?" he yelled. "Obviously, _she_ has something to do with you!"

There was tense silence for about thirty seconds before I said, "What's a kill chip?"

"It's a chip implanted on the agents beside their tracker. Before, they didn't have them but Percy started to use them on the agents. With just the click of a button, they kill you. Easier than the usual cancellation," Nikita explained. I stared at Birkhoff in surprise. Birkhoff was the one who did the procedure...

"You put a kill chip in my head?" I shouted.

"Yeah and you drugged me!" he shot back.

"So I guess we're even then," I said and turned away from him once again.

"Calm down! Both of you!" Nikita said.

"Yeah, _you_ didn't get betrayed by someone you thought you could trust!" he told her.

Nikita looked down and quietly said, "Yes I did." There was an uncomfortable silence before Nikita added, "Paulina, you and I will leave together. I'll get you a new identity and take you someplace else."

"No!" I said at the same time Birkhoff asked, "Why?"

"I'm sorry... but Birkhoff knows. You're not safe anymore," she explained. "Unless you join us, Birkhoff. Help us bring down Division."

"That's impossible!" he shrieked.

"No. It's not. Not if we destroy the black boxes."

"You're insane," he simply put it.

"No, you know it's possible to track them down." Before he had the chance to reply, she added, "You know Division shouldn't be allowed to exist!"

"Because they killed Daniel?" he asked sarcastically.

"You know he's not the only innocent they killed."

"Okay! Just, please stop!" I said, a bit hysterical. "No, Nikita, I will not run away, and Birkhoff, don't tell Percy! You also did something wrong so accusing me would only make Percy suspicious of everyone. If he looks hard enough, he will find something that can lead him right back to you."

He stayed quiet, with a thoughtful expression on his face and then said, "Fine."

"Thank you," I said.

"I'm not doing it for you," he snapped.

"All right, I'm glad that's settled then," Nikita said. "If you ever change your mind, you know who to come see," she added to Birkhoff.

He walked over to her. "Give me my laptop," he demanded.

Wordlessly, she gave it to him and offered him a smile. "Hope to see you soon, Nerd."

His expression faltered a little but he quickly recovered himself. "Bye." He turned to me with a sad expression. He shook his head and left silently.

"Bye," I said, knowing he didn't hear me.

"That went..." she trailed off.

"Horribly?" I offered.

"Definitely."

Screw my life.

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**I hope you enjoyed this short one. Remember to review!**


	17. Anger Management, Anyone?

**In this chapter, Lina and Birkhoff just deal with their anger in different ways. I hope you like! Don't forget to review!**

**Also, sorry for not updating.. I was on a break and was busy for a lot of the time. I meant to put this up yesterday. Sorry, loves!  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nikita.**

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Chapter 17: Anger Management Classes, Anyone?

Birkhoff sat at his desk in his room, making Division's computer system safer. He had a habit of working on improving it whenever he was upset. Birkhoff couldn't believe Paulina was working with Nikita! Of course, all roads always led back to her. He stood up and shoved the laptop off the desk. It banged loudly against the wardrobe as he let out an angry yell.

Why, why, why him? Always him. It was like the universe liked screwing with him. He kicked the wardrobe and got a sense of satisfaction so when he saw a bunch of CDs on the floor, he kicked those too. His kick scattered them across the room and he ended up hitting his toe on the bed.

"Aoooooooow!" He howled in pain, falling over onto his bed, just as his door swung open. Through his watery eyes, he saw the one and only, Amanda.

"Birkhoff come with me, your aggressiveness is unacceptable," she said, quickly turning, assuming he'd just follow her.

"Piss off, Amanda!" he growled as he cradled his foot on his lap. "I'm not in the mood for your psycho sessions."

She turned at him and gave him a tight-lipped smile before saying icily, "And I'm not in the mood to have you sedated and brought to my office while you're knocked out."

He mumbled something that rhymed with 'itch' as he sulked behind her.

"And that's why you need anger management, Birkhoff," she said calmly, as a soft smile grazed her lips.

* * *

I was sitting on my bed, staring out the window, thinking about what had just happened with Birkhoff three hours before. Nikita had left almost immediately, glad that my chips were tampered, giving me a small sympathetic smile before leaving. She hadn't said goodbye; the only thing out of her mouth was, "Birkhoff's a coward when it's convenient for him. He'll get over it."

These words were repeating over and over in my mind and I didn't know what to do. The only thing I _did_ know, was that I was not going to spend a day of my freedom locked in my apartment when I could be going out and enjoying the day. Besides, a bit of fresh hair was sure to help me clear my head and figure out what to do next.

I went online on my smartphone and looked up places to shop. I was satisfied to see an Urban Outfitters and a few vintage clothes shops were near my apartment. And the fact that Division paid for everything only made me super excited. There was no better feeling in the world than shopping when you wouldn't have to pay a single cent.

I grabbed my keys, changed into a pair of sweats and a plain tee and was out the door before you could say 'Shop til you drop.'

* * *

"...And how does that make you feel?" Amanda asked patiently as Birkhoff bopped his right leg up and down rapidly.

"I don't know. God, Amanda, not everyone over-thinks things."

"Hm," she mumbled as she took a few notes down. He gave her a look that she missed. She finally looked up, stopped writing, and crossed her hands over her notepad. "Now, I am going to teach you some deep breathing techniques that will help you with your anger management problem..."

* * *

Three hours of shopping later, I stopped off at a cafe for a coffee before heading to the supermarket to get more groceries. As I waited for my order to be called out, I sat at the only empty table.

I took out my phone and checked for any messages. I was surprised to see one from Michael.

_Amanda asked to speak with you this Saturday at 3._

I felt my stomach flop. I tried to think of anything I might've done that I could possibly get in trouble with Division for. The only things I could think of were Birkhoff and the sneaking in the vents. I was about to text back a reply when I heard someone say, "Mind if I sit here?"

I looked up and was greeted by very dark brown eyes. They belonged to a man, in his late twenties most likely, with curly brown hair and an average height. He looked like he was about five-foot-ten. "Uh-sure," I replied, confused.

He seemed to notice the confusion on my face because he added, "All the tables are taken."

Oh, right. "Sorry, go ahead."

He smiled as he pulled back the chair for himself. "Thank you," he huffed, "I don't want to wait fifteen minutes for my drink."

I nodded. "I know, I've been here for about five minutes. That line was huge. Placing my order took like ten minutes."

"Totally!" he exclaimed. "But I rather wait here than at that other place down the block. Their drinks aren't as good."

"Hm. That might explain why it's not crowded there," I mused.

The man laughed as he stuck out his hand. "Peter."

I shook his hand with a smile, "Paulina."

"Ah, that's a nice name-"

"Medium caramel latte!" a voice called out from the counter. That was my drink.

"That's my drink," I told Peter as I stood up. "Nice meeting you."

He followed suit and stood up. "Um. I don't want to sound so forward but... can I leave my business card with you?" He looked at me expectantly before adding, "In case you ever want to meet up... for a cup of coffee... uh... a date?"

My eyebrows shot up. "Yeah, sure. I'll give you a call," I said as I reached for the card that was now in his hand. He let out a relieved breath. "See you, Peter!" I called out as I walked to the counter.

"Yeah! See you soon, I hope!" I heard as I walked away.

After paying for my drink, I walked towards the door and looked down at the card in my left hand. "Peter Williams," I murmured to myself, before putting it into my wallet. I decided I'd call him. I needed friends, anyway.

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**I know, I know. It's short... and kind of a filler, but I needed to update. Anyway, it wasn't TOO filler-y (I hope) because I introduced Peter and he's going to come back soon! :) I hope you liked! And don't forget, me gustan the reviews!**


	18. Regrets

**Hey everyone! I was feeling particularly inspired today so I wrote wrote wrote! I hope you like this chapter. And don't forget to review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nikita.**

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Chapter 18: Regrets

As I stepped into the doors leading into Division, I tried to think of any one moment where I might've slipped up and said something that I shouldn't have, but I couldn't think of any. I hoped that Jaden hadn't told the truth about the vents, but I found a bit of comfort in the fact that she might not because of the pictures.

The ring of elevator doors opening snapped me out of my thoughts. I stepped into the elevator and swiped my agent card. After the screen blinked ACCESS GRANTED, the elevator doors closed and I was taken to the main floor, which was several levels underground. Finally, the elevator stopped moving and I exited out and into the hallway.

My heels made an eerie _click-click-click_ sound in the empty hallway as I walked and all my relaxation flew out the window. I got to Amanda's door and I knocked twice before taking a step back.

"Come in, please," Amanda called out. I took a deep breath before opening the door. I pushed it open and stood at the doorway, without moving. "Are you just going to stand there or are you going to come in and take a seat?" Amanda joked. Her joke although seemingly innocent, seemed to hold an implied threat. Or maybe I was just paranoid.

I took a seat across the white coffee table and crossed my legs. "How is agent life treating you, Paulina?" I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "Why the surprised look? Surely, you knew I called you to talk about your first week out in the field... Unless you thought you were in trouble... Paulina," she said, in a playful reprimanding tone as I stared, dumbfounded, "have you done anything you shouldn't have? Otherwise you wouldn't have been so scared. But it's okay, you can tell me. You know everything you tell me stays between us."

I closed my mouth which had been agape, only to have it open again, like a fish. "Oh, no. I just-I always assume the worst. I've done nothing wrong," I said, crossing my hands together and placing them on my lap, hoping that would reinforce that I was innocent.

She gave me a long look before saying, "I do not like being lied to. However, we can discuss your need to hide things from me on a later date. Now, I need to ask you about your first week out in the world. Give me a play-by-play of your week."

I was shocked at her straightforwardness. At least she was giving me a heads up that I had to speak about hiding things from her. Now I had more time to think up of something. I could ask Alex; she's always been good at thinking on her feet.

"Well, I spent the first day with Alex." And Nikita.

"What did you guys do?" she urged.

"We shopped for home decorations to put in my new apartment." And discuss how to drug Birkhoff so Nikita could hack into his laptop.

"And I see Birkhoff was over on Tuesday. I checked agent trackers. Why was he there?" she asked nonchalantly.

"I asked him to come and check my agent tracker," I said, lying smoothly. "My neck was hurting way too much to be normal soreness. I thought there was something wrong with my tracker. So I called Birkhoff." And then we cuddled on my couch before I drugged him.

"Oh, okay. Next time, you can just call. That would've been easier for everyone."

"Yeah, I know. I realized it was pointless to have him over," I said. "Anyway, then I went shopping, met a few people, and then I went home. And stayed there. Today, I went for a coffee and then came here." And set up a date with Peter Williams, from where I just came from.

"And these new people you met. Who are they?" she asked.

"Uh-you know, just neighbors," I said vaguely. I knew what happened to Daniel, Nikita's boyfriend. I heard her story multiple times, in the short time I'd known her.

"I mean names."

I swallowed. God, she wasn't going to let me off easy. "Well, my neighbors are Nicole, the teacher, Aaron, the accountant, and Mrs. Mills, the eighty-year-old," I said seriously.

She took down some notes and then looked back up at me. "That's enough. You can go home now. You can come back whenever you wish, and whenever we tell you to."

I nodded at her as I stood up to go look for Birkhoff. I needed to tell him that Amanda knew he came over. He might be mad at me and I at him (though not as much) but I had to swallow my pride and give him a heads up, unless I was petty enough to get us in trouble just because I refused to speak with him.

So I left Amanda's office and went off to look for the man plaguing my mind.

* * *

Birkhoff was in Operations, completely in his zone when he heard the voice. "Birkhoff." He froze and sat straight up, refusing to turn to towards her. "I need to speak with you."

He ignored her and instead rolled with a swivel chair to another part of the room, where he had a mini-fridge stocked with food. Pulling out a Twix, he turned to look over his shoulder and said, "I'm busy."

"Busy eating Twix, yeah?" she retorted. "This has to do with the time you came over."

"Oh, _that_... This isn't elementary school," he replied sarcastically, "I'm not telling on you."

Birkhoff felt her hands on his shoulders for a brief second before she spun him around to look at her. "I'm here so we can put aside our little problem and talk so that Amanda, who knows you came over by the way, isn't suspicious about what happened between us," she hissed.

Suddenly, the blood drained from his face. "What?"

"Great input. That's helpful, really," she told him, crossing her arms.

"What did you tell her?" he asked seriously, ignoring Paulina's previous comment.

"That my neck was hurting way too much so I called you to come look in case there was something wrong."

He nodded somberly. "That's good. And then you can say just that I checked and there was a complication-to explain why I was there for a long time-and then I fixed it."

"Sounds good to me." Then, in a quieter voice, she added, "Bye, Seymour."

His added first name shocked him but he ignored it, nonetheless. "See ya, Paulina," he said as she walked away, giving her back a sad look of regret before he turned back down to the computer.

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**Well, there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, chapter 18. Don't forget to review! x**


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